One of the two remaining reactors was shut down early Sunday and the last one later the same day, taking the Paks plant — which normally supplies 40% of Hungary's electricity — offline for the first time in its 44-year history. The plant was already operating at just over 200 MW of its 2,000 MW capacity before the shutdown. Prime Minister Peter Magyar blamed sustained drought and declining Danube water levels for the cooling-water shortage, and the government has asked large industrial consumers to voluntarily cut usage, warned of possible mandatory reductions, halted rail freight at peak hours from Monday, and slowed trams and subways. Romania ordered an energy-sector state of alert on Friday after reducing output at its own nuclear plant. Budapest faces six more days of 37–38°C with no rain forecast.
Context
The shutdown follows a cascade of Danube and Rhine low-water alerts across the region since mid-July, now escalating from shipping disruption to a full nuclear-plant outage for the first time.
