Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

In Romania, one of the country's only two nuclear reactors has been shut down at the Cernavoda power plant, which provides about 20% of the country's power.The first of the two 706-megawatt reactors was shut down earlier this week because the Danube's levels were so low, and state-owned company Nuclearelectrica was trying to avoid closing down the other on Thursday. If the second reactor is shut down Romania will, like Hungary, be temporarily without any nuclear energy production.Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world - but particularly in Europe.It is the fasting warming content, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service. This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe's waters and more intense wildfires. ReutersAmong the wrecks exposed by the low levels of the Danube was a World War Two German warship at Prahovo in SerbiaRomania's National Institute of Hydrology says the average river flow where the Danube enters the country is 4,700 cubic metres per second in July, whereas on Wednesday it was down to less than a third of that, at 1,600cm per second. The institute forecast it would continue to fall to 1,500cm per second by Tuesday.The Danube runs 2,857km (1,775 miles) through 19 countries.The Upper Danube goes from Germany to the Slovak capital Bratislava, the middle basin runs from Bratislava to the border between Serbia and Romania and the Lower Danube extends through Romania and Bulgaria into the three main branches of the Danube Delta that flow into the Black Sea.