MVM Targets Full Paks Restart by Late August as Romania's Cernavoda Stays Dark
MVM expects the 2 GW Paks plant back in service the week of 2026-08-24, but Romania's 1,360 MW Cernavoda remains offline after the same Danube drought.
MVM said on Wednesday (2026-08-19) that Hungary's 2 GW Paks nuclear plant is expected to return fully online the following week, potentially ending a drought-induced outage that at its worst left the plant generating barely a tenth of rated capacity. The update, reported by Montel, points to a full restart during the week of 2026-08-24.7
Paks supplies close to half of Hungary's electricity, so the prolonged curtailment carried genuine systemic risk. When Danube water levels fell to record lows, the plant dropped to around one-tenth of capacity, with engineers working to keep a single 240 MW reactor online, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Monday (2026-08-03). The European Commission said at the time it was prepared to convene an emergency meeting of its Electricity Coordination Group.1,4
Montel reported on Monday (2026-08-03) that about 2.44 GW, or 40%, of southeast Europe's nuclear generating capacity was offline as record low Danube levels hampered reactor cooling across the region. The episode concentrated minds quickly. By late Tuesday (2026-08-04), Magyar warned that Paks' remaining 240 MW reactor could shut within 48 hours unless forecast rainfall over Austria raised river levels enough to restore adequate cooling.1,2
Rain arrived in time. Hungary began partial recovery when Magyar announced on Monday (2026-08-10) that one of the Paks turbines would be switched on that evening, restarting electricity generation after weeks of near-total curtailment, Oilprice.com reported. MVM's Wednesday (2026-08-19) update pointed to the full plant returning during the week of 2026-08-24.3,7
Romania's situation proved more durable. Both reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear plant — each rated at 680 MW and together supplying roughly 20% of Romania's power — shut down as the Danube fell below safe cooling thresholds. On Thursday (2026-08-06), engineers raced to sink four barges in the river to redirect water flow and keep the second reactor running, the Associated Press reported. The effort failed to prevent both units going offline.5,8
With 1,360 MW of nuclear capacity absent, Romania during the week of 2026-08-17 restarted the Rovinari Group 4 coal-fired unit, rated at 300 MW, to partially offset the shortfall, Oilprice.com reported. Three hundred megawatts covers less than a quarter of what Cernavoda lost. The arithmetic leaves a gap that a single coal restart cannot close.5
The episode laid bare how quickly Danube-sited nuclear generation deteriorates under sustained low water. Unlike coastal or sea-cooled facilities, river plants have no backup cooling source when flows fall. The deficit can spread into neighbouring markets through interconnectors, with no fast low-carbon substitute available.1,4
Hungary's ability to avoid a complete Paks shutdown owed something to political determination and more to rainfall timing. Magyar made repeated public pledges to keep the plant running through the crisis, with Montel citing his warning that shutdown was imminent unless Austrian precipitation arrived. It did, in enough volume to restore cooling and allow progressive restart.6,2
Cernavoda's restart timeline is the live variable for the region. With 1,360 MW of Romanian nuclear capacity still absent as of the week of 2026-08-17 and coal covering less than a quarter of that gap, autumn Danube conditions now carry unusual weight in southeast European supply planning. Until both Cernavoda units return, the region carries less buffer against any repeat of the low-water conditions that drove August's curtailments.5,7