Romania left without nuclear power after Cernavodă reactors shut down

Romania’s Cernavodă nuclear power plant announced it shut down both reactors on the evening of November 9, shortly after Unit 1 resumed electricity generation and preparations were under way to restart Unit 2, leaving the country without nuclear power generation again.

Nuclearelectrica (BVB: SNN), said an incident at the plant’s conventional block forced Unit 1 to stop operating. Meanwhile, a sudden drop in the Danube’s water level halted preparations to restart Unit 2, which had been offline since August 13 -- two weeks after Unit 1 was shut down.

The company said specialists were working simultaneously to restart both units and reconnect them to the National Power System as soon as possible. Nuclearelectrica did not provide a timetable for the resumption of generation or confirm whether the river’s water level would allow Unit 1 to restart quickly.

The remedial work is being carried out in accordance with the applicable procedures at Cernavodă, without any impact on nuclear safety, personnel, or the environment, the company said. Such incidents at the conventional block of Cernavoda NPP are rather frequent, and they do not take much time.

Nuclearelectrica said it would report further developments in accordance with the disclosure requirements applicable to a publicly listed company. The root cause of the incident will be addressed in a subsequent report.

The latest shutdown comes after Romania had already lost both reactors during the summer. Unit 1 was taken offline at the end of July, while Unit 2 stopped operating on August 13 because of the low flow of the Danube.

The two reactors have a combined installed capacity of about 1,400 MW and supplied around 20% of Romania’s electricity consumption during peak periods. Their simultaneous absence has left the national energy system relying on wind generation, hydropower and electricity imports to cover demand.

Nuclearelectrica also announced that the technical director of Cernavodă NPP will be replaced with effect from December 1, 2026. The company has not yet disclosed the findings of its investigation into the latest incident.