Drought forces nuclear plant shutdowns
Nuclear power generation has been scaled back or halted in several European countries due to low water levels in rivers and the resulting shortage of cooling water. In Romania, two reactors at the country's only nuclear power station, Cernavoda, are out of operation, meaning that it is now having to source electricity from other countries. In Hungary, too, the four reactors at the Paks power station are being gradually shut down.
Neglect of critical infrastructure
Drought is not the only factor behind Romania's energy crisis, writes energy expert Cosmin Gabriel Păcuraru on the blog platform Contributors:
“The energy crisis Romania currently experiencing is neither a coincidence nor solely the result of the drought or extreme temperatures. These phenomena merely bring to light the weaknesses that have built up over the years: delayed investments, abandoned projects, protracted maintenance work, a lack of new production capacity and the frequent failure of corporate management to deliver the expected results. … In a sector that is key to national security, this is unacceptable. Energy is not just a product, but a critical infrastructure.”
Heat pushing Paks to its limits
We need to think long and hard about the plans to upgrade the Hungarian nuclear plant Paks, writes Népszava:
“If Paks 2 were ever to be built, it would add a further 2,400 megawatts to current capacity. You don't need to be an expert to wonder, if the Danube's flow is not even able to safely cool a 2,000-megawatt reactor, what happens when the cooling system has to cope with a total reactor capacity of 4,400 megawatts?”