Hungary's only nuclear plant faces first full shutdown in 44 years as Danube drought deepens
Low Danube water levels have forced output cuts to 480 MW, and Prime Minister Peter Magyar warned a total halt could come within days, triggering emergency power-saving measures across the country.
Crisis at Paks
Hungary's only nuclear power plant, located near the town of Paks on the Danube River, is on the verge of a complete shutdown for the first time in its 44-year history. The four-unit facility, with a combined capacity of about 2,000 megawatts, normally supplies close to half of the country's electricity. By Friday evening, output had been cut to just 480 MW as the Danube's water level dropped too low to sustain cooling. Prime Minister Peter Magyar, in a video posted online on Saturday, said a total halt could come within days.
It should be expected that a complete shutdown may occur earlier, even this weekend.
The plant uses Danube water for cooling, and the prolonged drought across southern Europe has left the river at critically low levels. The same conditions are also affecting power generation in neighbouring Serbia. In its entire operating life, individual units have been taken down for maintenance or due to faults, but the other blocks always kept running. A full station blackout has never occurred.
A week of reductions
The plant's four units were taken offline or throttled in a cascade that began on Monday evening. Unit 1 was reduced by 254 MW that night. On Tuesday, unit 3 was cut by 237 MW, and by Wednesday it was temporarily shut down entirely. Thursday brought a 50 percent reduction at unit 2. By Friday, the remaining output had been squeezed to 480 MW, a quarter of the plant's nameplate capacity.
- Unit 1 reduced by 254 MW in the evening
- Unit 3 reduced by 237 MW
- Unit 3 temporarily shut down completely
- Unit 2 reduced by 50%
- Total output cut to 480 MW
- PM warns full shutdown possible this weekend
Magyar said that once shut, the plant could remain offline for several weeks. The government has not specified a timeline for restoring normal operations, and much depends on whether Danube levels recover.
Government response
After a late-night meeting of the government's defence task force on Friday, Magyar announced a package of emergency measures. The transmission system operator MAVIR was authorised to order large industrial consumers to cut usage after warning, and to temporarily disconnect individual entities from the grid. Households, the prime minister stressed, are at the very end of the chain of any restrictions.
Additional steps include a halt to freight rail traffic from Monday between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., mandatory remote work for state administration employees for the first three days of the coming week, switching off decorative lighting at state institutions, and a ban on watering sports fields and filling swimming pools.
What happens next
With the plant potentially offline for weeks, Hungary faces a severe supply gap that will test the emergency measures and cross-border electricity imports. The defence task force remains in session, and further restrictions could be announced if the shutdown extends beyond the weekend. The government has not indicated when Danube levels might recover enough to resume cooling, leaving the country's grid in an unprecedented squeeze.
