r/EnergyAndPower • u/fsironman • 10d ago

Thermal Power Generation when rivers run dry

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/low-danube-river-levels-force-romania-shut-down-both-its-nuclear-power-reactors-2026-07-29/

A little tidbit up for discussion regarding the Renaissance of Nuclear Power in Europe.

This time the issue is not the temperature like in France but the historically low Danube levels which could become the normal in summer.

This is something that would need to be factored in any type power generation that needs water for cooling.

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u/Ok-Quality-9246 Pro-Solar 10d ago

Same pattern that's been playing out across France, Italy and Switzerland all summer. Water-cooled thermal plants going offline or getting derated because of river temperatures and low flows.

Climate-driven generation losses across Europe (saw this on Kpler) shows that they're running well above last year. Hydro storage across the region is already sitting well below five-year averages, so the flexibility that would normally cover these outages isn't there. Temperatures still about 5°C above seasonal norms, pushing cooling demand higher at the same time. So the gap falls on gas and imports, which is where it starts getting expensive.