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BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Numerous governments across Central and Eastern Europe are taking steps to conserve electricity and avert an energy crisis as record low water levels on the Danube River have forced power plants to the brink of shutting down.
Persistent drought and successive extreme heat waves have deprived one of Europe's largest rivers of water, pushing the Danube's levels in Hungary's capital Budapest to around 4 inches on Monday, well below the previous all-time low of 13 inches set in 2018.
Water levels are not expected to rise on the Danube in the coming days or even weeks as no significant rainfall is forecast, and as a renewed extreme heat wave bears down on the region with daytime highs topping 38 Celsius, electricity and water use are on the rise.
Hungary's plant on brink of shutdown
The Danube's record low levels have pushed Hungary's only nuclear power plant, the Soviet-built, four-reactor plant at Paks, to the brink of powering down entirely for the first time in its 44 years in service.
The Paks plant, which uses water from the Danube to cool its reactors, on Monday was producing only 240 megawatts of power rather than the usual 2,000. In video posted to Facebook on Monday, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said engineers had managed to keep the plant's final operating turbine temporarily running, averting an expected shutdown on the weekend.
"This is very good news, because the complete shutdown of the Paks power plant can still be avoided, at least temporarily, on one of the biggest consumption days," he said, adding that a full power-down was likely on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Paks plant, located about 55 miles south of Budapest, accounts for nearly half of Hungary's electricity production and around a third of its consumption. Hungary has relied on regional electricity imports as well as renewable sources to try to make up for the deficit from the Paks plant.
Hungary's government last week asked major industrial users to curb their electricity consumption and sought voluntary savings from households in order to conserve supply, particularly in peak demand hours between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
It also announced that electric-powered freight trains would not be permitted to run during peak hours beginning on Monday in order to conserve an estimated 70 to 90 megawatt-hours of electricity per day.