Hungary shut down the Paks nuclear power station entirely on Aug. 2, the first complete stoppage in the plant’s 44 years. Record-low water on the Danube had left the cooling intakes short; output had already fallen from about 2,000 MW to 240 MW before the last unit came off. When fully operating, Paks supplied close to half of Hungary’s electricity.
The European press are largely claiming that this shows that nuclear power is fragile before a changing climate. The opposite conclusion is the correct one.