Hungarian authorities have deliberately sunk two barges in the Danube River near the Paks nuclear power plant to raise water levels and maintain reactor cooling during an intense heatwave, Bloomberg reported.
The emergency intervention aimed to prevent a costly total shutdown of Hungary's only atomic energy facility, which supplies a major portion of the national power grid.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said water levels at the plant's pumping station had already increased by one centimetre following the immersion of the vessels. Workers are also constructing an underwater barrier to slow the river's flow and retain water for cooling operations, with approximately 5,000 metric tons of stone scheduled to arrive within 24 hours.
Paks is situated along the Danube in central Hungary. Nuclear power plants rely on vast quantities of cold surface water drawn from nearby rivers to cool their reactors and condense turbine steam back into liquid energy production.
Emergency Measures and Reduced Capacity
The Paks facility, which generates about 40% of Hungary's electricity, is currently operating at 485 megawatts. That figure represents a quarter of its total capacity of approximately 2,000 megawatts.
According to forecasts, river levels on the Danube will drop early next week to a point requiring the shutdown of one of two currently operating turbines. A further decline in the river's depth could force a total shutdown of the entire nuclear station.
A complete shutdown would increase Hungary's reliance on electricity imports during evening hours and generate substantial expenses before reactors could resume power production. Magyar estimated that keeping the plant offline for a month would cost at least 50 billion forints ($159 million), not including commercial losses caused by power supply restrictions.
Widespread European Drought and Regional Impact
Relentless heat and persistent drought have dried up major river systems across Europe, straining power grids and hampering cooling infrastructure.
As reported by news agency UNIAN, historically low water levels on the Danube have forced multiple nations using river intake for reactor cooling to halt operations. In Romania, persistent drops in the river's depth led to a complete shutdown of the country's only nuclear power plant at Cernavodă.
