Hungary may shut down Paks nuclear plant amid drought

Hungary is facing an unprecedented energy crisis as a severe drought threatens to force the complete shutdown of the country's only nuclear power plant, prompting sweeping emergency measures to prevent widespread blackouts. Prime Minister Péter Magyar warned in an emergency address on August -2 that the four-reactor Paks Nuclear Power Plant, which normally supplies about 40 percent of the nation's electricity, could be taken fully offline as early as this weekend due to critically low water levels in the Danube River needed for reactor cooling.

The crisis escalated overnight and into the morning of August -2, when additional generating units were shut down, reducing the plant's output from its full capacity of 2,000 megawatts to just 480 megawatts. This drastic reduction forced the national grid operator, MAVIR, to activate an emergency protocol for serious disruptions. Authorities are now racing to stabilize the power system by bringing reserve plants online and increasing electricity imports. One unit of the Danube thermal power plant, with a capacity of 400 megawatts, is expected to resume operation on August -3 after repairs.

The government has implemented a tiered response...