Drought-driven river lows force nuclear shutdowns across Europe, exposing a continent-wide cooling vulnerability

Record-low Danube flows — linked by World Weather Attribution scientists to human-induced climate change — have forced nuclear disruptions in Romania (full Cernavoda shutdown), Hungary (partial Paks shutdown since late July), and France (13 of 57 EDF reactors offline from drought, heat, and jellyfish). All rely on river water for cooling. River-cooled reactors were sited under historical flow assumptions that no longer hold.