Romania's Cernavodă units return after drought shutdown

· Climate · Romania

Nuclearelectrica and the Romanian government are working on long-term solutions to prevent a repeat of the shutdown of the Cernavodă nuclear units, which are returning to operation after three months offline. The units were taken out because drought caused abnormally low water levels in the Danube, cutting the river's ability to cool the plant. The return restores a major source of baseload power to Romania's grid, but the underlying climate risk to river-cooled nuclear plants remains. The government and the utility are now looking at measures to keep the reactors running when river flows fall, a problem increasingly visible across Europe's inland nuclear fleet.

Why it matters：Drought-driven shutdowns of river-cooled reactors are a growing risk to baseload power in Europe, making cooling-water resilience a board-level issue for nuclear operators.

Key points

  • The Cernavodă units were offline for three months because of low Danube water levels.
  • Nuclearelectrica and the government are seeking long-term fixes.
  • The shutdown highlights drought risk for river-cooled nuclear plants.

Sources (original reporting)

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