Record-low Danube River levels threaten shutdown of Hungary's nuclear plant
Three of four units of Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant were not in operation and the fourth was operating at about 50%, as of Wednesday morning.
Updated on: August 5, 2026 / 12:17 PM EDT / CBS News
As the Danube River breaks new record lows across much of its nearly 1,800-mile stretch through eastern Europe, curiosities of the past — including woolly mammoth bones in Bulgaria, sunken Nazi warships in Serbia and unexploded WWII artillery in Hungary's capital — are emerging. But there's also an energy crisis unfolding for Hungary's nearly 10 million people.
The country's only nuclear power plant, known as Paks, is on the brink of completely shutting down. As of Wednesday morning, three of the plant's four reactors are not in operation, while one continues to operate at approximately 50% power.
On normal days, the 44-year-old Soviet-designed facility, which sits on the Danube about 60 miles south of Budapest, generates roughly 50% of the country's electricity.
But with a drought across southeast Europe now more than three months in, these are not normal days.
Unlike nuclear plants in the U.S., U.K., Germany and France — many of which sit on smaller rivers and rely on giant hourglass-shaped cooling towers to recirculate water — Paks was built to suck water in directly from the Danube, a river long assumed too mighty to run dry. Approaching the plant, there are no telltale dumb-bell silhouettes on the horizon signaling its presence.