Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced that the country's only nuclear power plant, Paks, will shut down due to record low water levels in the River Danube, used for cooling. The shutdown is expected to impact Hungary's energy supply, with temperatures already high and a heatwave forecasted to last until Monday. Water levels on the Danube have fallen to their lowest point in 30 years, affecting not only Hungary but also neighboring countries such as Serbia and Romania. Romania's own nuclear power plant has already shut down one of its reactors due to the low water levels, potentially leaving both countries without nuclear energy production temporarily.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The article uses neutral language to report on the situation, but phrases like 'critical' energy supply and 'increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe's waters' may suggest a slightly sympathetic tone towards the government's concerns about climate change and energy supply.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score +0.23 for article 140 · logged 2026-07-31
- Published
Hungary's only nuclear power plant will be forced to shut down entirely for the first time due to record low water levels of the River Danube, Prime Minister Péter Magyar has said.
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Magyar → publish → Danube
The Soviet-era Paks power plant uses the Danube for cooling but the water level is so low that the suction nozzles cannot reach it.
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nozzles → use → it
Magyar warned Hungary's energy supply could become "critical" from Monday due to the Paks shutdown and the ongoing heatwave, which will see temperatures hover around 37C for a week.
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temperatures → warn → week
Like much of Europe, Hungary has seen very low rainfall and high temperatures for much of the summer.
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Hungary → see → summer
The waters of the Danube have fallen to the lowest levels for 30 years in several countries, including neighbouring Serbia and Romania.
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waters → fall → Serbia
Magyar asked Hungarians to limit activities that required significant energy consumption between the peak times of 17:00 and 22:00, including charging electric cars and using air conditioning equipment.
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that → ask → equipment
A "rotational shutdown regime" was also possible if the other combined efforts were not enough to maintain the balance of the national grid, Magyar said, adding the government would compile a list of electricity and water consumers whose consumption could be limited.
In Romania, one of the country's only two nuclear reactors has been shut down at the Cernavoda power plant, which provides about 20% of the country's power.
uncertain
which → combine → power
The first of the two 706-megawatt reactors was shut down earlier this week because the Danube's levels were so low, and state-owned company Nuclearelectrica was trying to avoid closing down the other on Thursday.
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Nuclearelectrica → shut → Thursday
If the second reactor is shut down Romania will, like Hungary, be temporarily without any nuclear energy production.
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Romania → shut → production
Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world - but particularly in Europe.
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change → drive → Europe
It is the fasting warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.
uncertain
It → fast → service
This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe's waters and more intense wildfires.
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This → cause → waters
Romania's National Institute of Hydrology says the average river flow where the Danube enters the country is 4,700 cubic metres per second in July, whereas on Wednesday it was down to less than a third of that, at 1,600cm per second.
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it → say → second
The institute forecast it would continue to fall to 1,500cm per second by Tuesday.
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it → forecast → Tuesday
The Danube runs 2,857km (1,775 miles) through 19 countries.
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Danube → run → countries
The Upper Danube goes from Germany to the Slovak capital Bratislava, the middle basin runs from Bratislava to the border between Serbia and Romania and the Lower Danube extends through Romania and Bulgaria into the three main branches of the Danube Delta that flow into the Black Sea.
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that → go → Sea
The low waters of the river have resulted in several unexpected discoveries.
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waters → result → discoveries
The remains of a sunken Hungarian cargo ship resurfaced in Croatia, while the hulks of a German river flotilla was seen in Serbia.
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hulks → resurface → Serbia
And a resident of the northeastern Bulgarian city of Ruse found bones on the Danube river bed, which experts determined were the remains of a mammoth.
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experts → find → mammoth
They were able to recognise a lower jaw, two tusks, and possibly a mammoth rib.
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They → recognise → jaw
Shipping has ground to a halt on the river in Bulgaria, and border police had to evacuate 186 river cruise passengers from the Viking Ullur ship earlier this week when it ran aground close to Vidin, a city that sits on the border with Romania.
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that → grind → Romania
Passengers had been running low on food and water because the cruise ship was unable to dock in Vidin, and another boat that was called in to help was unable to get close enough.
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that → run → Vidin
"I have never heard of such low levels over the years.
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I → hear → years
There has certainly not been a similar situation since 1990," Ivan Zhekov, head of river supervision at Bulgaria's maritime administration agency told BTA news agency.
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Zhekov → tell → agency
Serbian hydrologist Dejan Vladiković said the problems were not just down to the current high temperatures but also to low rainfall during the spring.
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problems → say → spring
He told Serbian TV channel N1 that the Danube was down to levels not seen for 50 to 60 years, and climatologists did not expect to see any improvement until mid-September.
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climatologists → tell → September
Temperatures in Serbia are set to climb as high as 38C on Friday, and locally up to 40C, with night-time temperatures in Belgrade as high as 26C.
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temperatures → set → 26C.
Elsewhere in Europe, forecasters say fire-prone conditions are expected to spread towards central Europe, with Greece and Turkey among the countries worst affected.
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Greece → say → countries
Vast areas of France and Spain have just experienced some of the most intense and widespread wildfires in living memory, leading to hundreds of thousands of evacuations.
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areas → experience → evacuations
