Key Points
- Extreme heat and drought are disrupting Europe’s nuclear power plants, with Romania warning it could soon shut its last working reactor as water levels on the Danube continue to fall.
- Governments are taking extraordinary steps to keep energy supplies running.
- Europe’s extreme summer could also hit economic growth, with Triodos estimating heat-related disruptions could cost the EU 180 billion euros ($207.7 billion) — roughly 1% of GDP.
A hot and exceptionally dry summer has disrupted Europe’s nuclear power plants, prompting governments to take extraordinary measures to keep energy supplies running.
In Romania, the state-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica warned it may shut down its last working reactor as soon as Thursday as water levels on the Danube, a vital economic artery that stretches 1,770 miles, continue to fall.
Romania, which has declared an energy emergency through August, has taken some unprecedented measures, including dredging the channel and sinking rock-filled barges.
Romanian naval forces carried out a controlled underwater explosion on the riverbed last week, seeking to improve water flow to the cooling systems of its Cernavoda power plant.
The two reactors of Romania’s one active nuclear power plant, operated by Nuclearelectrica, typically supply about a fifth of the country’s electricity.
In Hungary, the government has enjoyed something of a reprieve as rainfall has helped lift water levels on the Danube, allowing it to restart another turbine at its Paks nuclear power plant.
Two of the power plant’s eight turbines are now producing electricity again, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said via social media on Monday, offering some relief to a facility that supplies nearly half the country’s electricity.
In France, where nuclear provides about 70% of the country’s electricity, utility provider EDF said Wednesday that it had reduced output at multiple reactors due to environmental issues.
EDF also shut down three reactors at its Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France earlier in the week due to a “massive influx of jellyfish,” triggering automatic preventative measures.
It marked the second successive year that a jellyfish swarm shuttered reactors at the facility, which is one of the largest in the country.
France has reportedly been forced to shut down a record number of nuclear power plants this summer amid a prolonged bout of extreme heat, wildfires and droughts. To be sure, nuclear power plants are often built near rivers or coastlines, so they use nearby water sources to cool their reactors.
European governments are exploring a range of options to mitigate the impact of nuclear power’s vulnerability to heat waves and low water levels, such as additional or upgraded cooling systems or scheduling maintenance around periods of extreme heat.
In the U.K., Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Wednesday called a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee in response to extreme heat, wildfires and drought.
The move marks the second Cobra meeting this year on heat waves and comes as the country braces for temperatures of up to 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday.
“I think many would suggest that treating this as an emergency is perhaps a little overdue,” Gareth Remond-King, head of international program at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday.