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Unit 2 of Romania's Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant Still at Risk of Shutdown

Ionel Scrioșteanu, State Secretary of Romania's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, stated that Unit 2 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant is currently still in operation, but the risk of shutdown has not been eliminated. On August 8, Romanian authorities took emergency measures by sinking four fully loaded barges into the Danube River to raise local water levels, increasing the water intake into the plant's cooling water system to ensure the cooling needs of the reactor units. Scrioșteanu said on social media that the related actions have achieved positive results, allowing Unit 2 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant to continue operating...

2026-08-11

Sea Temperature Approaching Shutdown Threshold, Nuclear Power Belt on South Korea's East Coast Faces Load Reduction Pressure

Climate change is pushing nuclear power plants on South Korea's east coast toward new operational boundaries. South Korean nuclear plants generally rely on seawater as cooling water; after the heat generated by the reactor drives the turbine, seawater is needed to condense the steam back into water. Once the intake water temperature approaches or exceeds the design seawater temperature set by the equipment, heat exchange efficiency declines, affecting the heat dissipation capacity of key safety systems, and the plant must reduce load or even shut down in accordance with safety regulations. The area currently at greatest risk is around Uljin in North Gyeongsang Province. Data from the National Institute of Fisheries Science shows that nearshore surface seawater temperatures along parts of the east coast have approached 30°C, with multiple observation points near Uljin recording approximately 29.6°C to 30.2°C on the afternoon of August 7.

2026-08-10

Unit 3 of Japan's Ohi Nuclear Power Plant Automatically Shuts Down

Kansai Electric Power Co. announced in the early hours of the 9th that Unit 3 of the Ohi Nuclear Power Plant, located in Ohi Town, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, automatically shut down during operation. The unit has a generating capacity of 1.18 million kilowatts. According to Kansai Electric Power, at around 23:56 on the 8th, an alarm was triggered at the unit, indicating that the generator had lost the conditions required to produce a magnetic field. Subsequently, the generator automatically stopped operating, and the reactor also automatically shut down. Preliminary information suggests that the anomaly may involve the exciter, a device used to establish the magnetic field for the generator. Kansai Electric Power stated that no radioactive material leakage occurred as a result of this incident, and there was no radiological impact on nearby personnel or the environment. The cause of the malfunction...

2026-08-10

France's Golfech Nuclear Power Plant Reconnected to Grid After Shutdown Due to High Temperatures

French utility EDF (Électricité de France) announced that the Golfech nuclear power plant, located in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, has been reconnected to the grid. Unit 2 of the plant was restarted around noon on August 7, following a forced shutdown on July 29 due to high-temperature weather. At the time of the shutdown, Unit 1 was in the maintenance and refueling phase, making the interruption of Unit 2 more impactful on plant operations. The direct cause of the shutdown at Golfech was that the water temperature of the Garonne River reached regulatory limits. According to relevant regulations, when the daily average water temperature of the Garonne River exceeds 28 degrees Celsius, the plant must reduce reactor power or temporarily cease operations. Since the nuclear plant needs to draw water from the river for...

2026-08-08

Rising Seawater Temperatures Prompt New Nuclear Safety Rules: TEPCO Sets Temporary Shutdown Criteria for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Plant

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings announced on August 7 that it has established a set of self-determined criteria for evaluating whether to temporarily halt nuclear reactor operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture, in response to rising seawater temperatures in the surrounding area. These criteria are not mandatory requirements directly imposed by external regulatory authorities, but rather proactive measures voluntarily implemented by TEPCO based on safe operational needs. According to the conditions announced by TEPCO, the company will consider temporarily shutting down the relevant nuclear facilities when the 7-day average seawater temperature in the waters surrounding the plant exceeds 31 degrees Celsius, when water temperatures above 34 degrees Celsius are observed, or when water temperatures above 33 degrees Celsius persist for 12 hours. These numerical thresholds indicate that seawater temperature has been incorporated as a key variable in nuclear power plant operational risk management.

2026-08-08

Hungary's Paks Nuclear Power Plant Avoids Full Shutdown as Danube Rises 2 cm, Now Operating at Only 240 MW

From the night of August 4 to the early morning of August 5, Hungary's Paks Nuclear Power Plant (about 100 km south of Budapest, commissioned in 1982, never fully shut down in its history) nearly disconnected from the grid due to low Danube water levels—3 of its 4 units had been sequentially shut down, leaving only one turbine operating at about 240 MW (normal output near 2,000 MW), supplying roughly half of Hungary's electricity. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar stated that the river level rose about 2 cm overnight, allowing the final unit's cooling to be maintained and averting the first full shutdown in 44 years; temperatures are still expected to exceed 40°C in the coming days, with cooling and rainfall only anticipated around Friday (approximately August 8). To alleviate energy pressure, Prime Minister Magyar thanked those who voluntarily...

2026-08-06

Croatia's Krško Nuclear Power Plant Only 3.4°C Away from Shutdown Threshold

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on August 4 dismissed concerns that the Slovenia-Croatia jointly owned Krško nuclear power plant might be forced to shut down due to excessively high Sava River water temperatures, stating that power supply is secure and the situation is under control. However, the plant is actually approaching environmental cooling limits, and due to abnormally high temperatures and declining Sava River water levels, the safety limits at the Krško nuclear power plant are nearing critical thresholds. According to environmental regulations, the daily average temperature of the river at the complete mixing point must not exceed 28 degrees Celsius, and the daily temperature increase must not exceed 3 degrees Celsius. As of August 4, the Sava River in the area was 24.6 degrees Celsius, with a daily increase of 2.6 degrees Celsius, leaving only 3.4°C before the 28°C red line and 0.4°C before the 3°C daily increase red line...

2026-08-05

Unit 2 of Romania's Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant can only operate for about 5 more days due to the continuously declining water level of the Danube River

Unit 2 of Romania's Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant is expected to operate for only about five days due to the declining water level of the Danube River. Romeo Urjan, the plant's director, stated that if the Danube's water level continues to drop at a rate of 2 to 3 centimeters per day, Unit 2 will soon cease operation. Unit 1 has already been shut down due to insufficient water flow. Urjan emphasized that despite this, Unit 2 continues to operate within normal parameters, and nuclear safety is not under any threat. To alleviate the situation, relevant authorities are preparing to deploy four barges to divert more water to the plant, hoping to raise the water level by 7 to 8 centimeters, thereby extending the plant's operating time. Related...

2026-08-04

Danube at Record Low, Hungary's Paks Nuclear Plant Faces First Full Shutdown in 44 Years

On August 2, Hungarian authorities stated that the Paks Nuclear Power Plant may halt electricity generation due to the Danube River dropping to a historic low. This is the country's only nuclear power plant, with an installed capacity of approximately 2 gigawatts, generating nearly half of Hungary's total electricity output. The Paks Nuclear Power Plant draws water from the Danube for cooling. Due to persistent high temperatures and insufficient rainfall, the Danube's water level has been continuously declining recently. Hungarian water authorities predict that the river, which flows from Germany to the Black Sea, will see further drops in water levels in the coming days. As of 18:37 GMT on August 2, the Paks Nuclear Power Plant's output was only slightly above 10% of its installed capacity. Péter M...

2026-08-03

Japan's Chugoku Electric Power swings to loss in FY2026 Q1 as nuclear shutdown raises costs

Japan's Chugoku Electric Power Co. announced its consolidated financial results for the first quarter (April-June) of fiscal year 2026 on July 31. During the reporting period, the company's sales increased 4.4% year-on-year to 343.9 billion yen, up 14.3 billion yen from the same period last year, mainly driven by growth in electricity sales volume. Profit performance, however, came under significant pressure. The company posted an operating loss of 5.3 billion yen, an ordinary loss of 3.2 billion yen, and a net loss of 3.7 billion yen for the first quarter, compared with a net profit of 26.8 billion yen in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 30.5 billion yen. This marks the first time since the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 that the company has recorded simultaneous losses in operating profit, ordinary profit, and net profit over a four-year period. The company stated...

2026-08-02

Hungary's Paks Nuclear Power Plant Faces Full Shutdown Due to Record Low Danube Water Level

Affected by persistent drought and high temperatures, the water level of the Danube River at the Budapest section dropped to 23 cm (fixed datum reading, a record low), restricting cooling water intake at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. Starting Wednesday, July 29, Unit 3 was the first to be shut down; the operator, MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd, subsequently stated on its official website that all four units would inevitably be disconnected within the next 24 to 72 hours, with power generation coming to a complete halt. MVM explained that the existing water volume of the Danube is still sufficient to cool the reactors, but the intake pumps can no longer draw water because the riverbed is exposed and the pump inlets are too far from the water surface—an equipment failure rather than an absolute shortfall in cooling water volume. To this end, the Hungarian side deployed 4 pumping barges and 2 floating cranes near the plant as an emergency measure, but with water levels expected to continue falling, a preventive full shutdown remains unavoidable.

2026-07-31