People walk on the dried-out waterbed of the river Danube under the Margaret Bridge in downtown Budapest, Hungary, on July 30, 2026.Attila KisbenedekI/ AFP via Getty Images

Hungary faces energy crunch as drought shuts down Paks nuclear plant, PM says – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

Hungary faces “the most critical five days” ahead as a record drought in Central Europe has forced Budapest to shut down a nuclear power plant that generates 40 percent of the country’s electricity, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said Sunday.

“As our electricity system will face an enormous strain, I ask everyone to pay even closer attention to each other from Monday,” Magyar said in a video appeal.

The warning comes after Magyar announced over the weekend that the last operating reactor units at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant south of Budapest would be taken offline because of the continued drop in water levels in the Danube River, which the plant uses for cooling.