Hungary shuts down its sole nuclear power plant, Paks, for the first time, the government says. Prime Minister Péter Magyar announces the shutdown after record-low water levels in the Danube prevent adequate cooling. The plant is located south of Budapest and normally supplies about a third of Hungary’s electricity needs.
Multiple outlets link the outage to a broader European energy stress tied to prolonged drought and successive heatwaves that start earlier in the year and continue into the present. Several reports say the cooling system relies on water pumped from the Danube, which drops to levels below what operators need to keep reactors operating.
Outlets differ mainly in the timing and extent reported. DW and CBS describe the situation as a transition from partial operation to shutdown, noting that three of four units were out of service and the remaining unit was operating at reduced levels earlier. Others focus on the first-time, full shutdown decision and the immediate risk of a power crunch or potential power cuts. Euronews also frames the outage as a political test for Hungary’s newly installed government, while other coverage stays centered on the technical and energy impacts.
