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Romanian army carries out controlled explosion to divert water, help cool nuclear power plant
Meanwhile in Romania, the Romanian naval forces carried out a controlled explosion to divert a large volume of water to the Old Danube and the Cernavodă nuclear power plant to help with its cooling.
Some 180 kg of explosives were used today, Adevărul reported, to move a large rock restricting the flow of water.
Acting defence minister Radu Miruță hailed the operation as a success, saying it will help with cooling of the plant and water transport on the river.
Given the continuing extreme weather conditions, the Cernavodă plant may still have to temporarily suspend its operations at some point, but any extra day of its work is worth more than the cost of the explosion, he said.
Key events
Carmakers in Romania stop production amid energy crunch
More from Romania with the news that carmakers Dacia – owned by France’s Renault – and Ford have temporarily halted production until August 19, voluntarily reducing power consumption as the country faces electricity supply problems.
The prime minister, Ilie Bolojan, said the carmakers’ decision has already reduced the country’s power consumption by about 200MW, adding other companies would also voluntarily reduce usage.
Carmakers Dacia, Ford restrict production in Romania amid drought-related energy crunch
Carmakers Dacia and Ford have temporarily suspended their evening production in Romania as the country faces energy crunch as a result of drought limiting its power generation capabilities.
More companies are expected to follow suit.
The measures are aimed at reducing the energy consumption by large scale industrial consumers and protecting the stability of the grid should there be a need to close the second unit at the Cernavodă nuclear power plant, already running in restricted mode.
The first unit had to shut down over the weekend.
Romania’s PM Ilie Bolojan said the highest risk will be between 7pm and 11pm, where the country is expected to face a significant deficit in energy supplies and rely on imported energy.
From tomorrow, further interventions on the Danube will be taken to redirect and boost water flow at the plant, he said.
EU needs to strengthen external borders, EU’s von der Leyen tells Spain’s Sánchez
More must be done to strengthen the European Union’s borders at critical points, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez in a letter.
In the carefully-calibrated letter, first reported by Reuters and a number of Spanish media, von der Leyen was quoted as congratulating Spain for swiftly handling the incident and “successfully preventing” the onward migration to mainland Spain and the EU.
But her note also calls for strengthening the border to avoid similar incidents repeating.
“In cooperation with Spain, especially on anything related to Ceuta and Melilla, we could enhance border management early-warning systems and improve our technical and financial support to Morocco,” she wrote in the letter.
We are working on getting the full text of the letter for you.
Italy’s decision to reintroduce border controls with Spain published
There is also an update on the political fallout from the migration crisis in Ceuta last week.
Earlier today, Italy’s formal notification of the temporary reintroduction of border controls with Spain has been added to the EU’s register.
It quotes “threats to public policy and internal security” and “the management of migration flows due to recent events in the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta, resulting from large-scale irregular entries of third-country nationals, with a risk of secondary movements within the Schengen area.”
(Just a reminder: that last bit is heavily contested as there is no free flow of people from Ceuta to the rest of the EU, with strict border controls for anyone leaving the territory for mainland Europe.)
It looks like the border control measures – which Italy said would only be carried in a “targeted” way and apply to third-country nationals travelling by air and sea – are expected to be in place for a month, until 1 September.
Hundreds of Greek firefighters continue to battle a wildfire northwest of Athens
Meanwhile, we have an update from Greece, as hundreds of Greek firefighters battle a wildfire northwest of Athens for a fourth day after blazes fanned by strong winds gutted homes, thousands of hectares of farmland and pine forests, and forced emergency evacuations by land and sea, Reuters reported.
Strong firefighting forces assisted by water tanks and 21 aircraft were deployed near the communities of Kandili and Agia Skepi early on Monday as plumes of thick black smoke and red flames engulfed lush pine forests, Reuters images showed.
To give you an idea about the challenge Romania and Hungary are facing, the Danube’s water flow has fallen to 1,500 cubic meters per second in Romania, less than a third of its July average.
The backstory behind this explosion is that last Friday, Romania has declared a nationwide state of emergency throughout August stemming from a decline in electricity production after record low Danube river levels disrupted power generation.
The peak of the current heatwave is expected on Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures set to cross into 40s C and get close to all time records.
Here’s a better look at the impressive controlled explosion in Romania…
Romanian army carries out controlled explosion to divert water, help cool nuclear power plant
Meanwhile in Romania, the Romanian naval forces carried out a controlled explosion to divert a large volume of water to the Old Danube and the Cernavodă nuclear power plant to help with its cooling.
Some 180 kg of explosives were used today, Adevărul reported, to move a large rock restricting the flow of water.
Acting defence minister Radu Miruță hailed the operation as a success, saying it will help with cooling of the plant and water transport on the river.
Given the continuing extreme weather conditions, the Cernavodă plant may still have to temporarily suspend its operations at some point, but any extra day of its work is worth more than the cost of the explosion, he said.
Record low water levels affect transport of goods, energy security
Record low water levels in Europe’s major rivers have curtailed the transport of goods, reduced electricity output and shrunk company earnings, stoking fears about the economic impact of searing heat and erratic rainfall, Reuters reported.
From the bustling port of Rotterdam to hydropower plants in Serbia, waterways have become a less reliable way to transport goods such as grains and oil, or to produce much-needed electricity when millions are seeking to cool their homes.
“It’s affecting not one region like we’ve seen in the past, but the whole European landscape,” said Alessandro Armenia, a power analyst at commodities data and analytics firm Kpler.
“Given the current dynamics, it means either we’re going to see blackouts or we need to invest way more.”
At Djerdap 1, Serbia’s largest hydropower plant, output has fallen to 20% of capacity, the plant’s production director Davor Maljoković told Reuters, as the once broad shipping channel beside it has shrunk to expose sandbanks and gravel bars.
The lack of water has also disrupted cooling systems at Serbia’s Kostolac coal-fired power plants, forcing them to cut output, Serbia’s state EPS power utility said.
Romania’s state nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica also had to shut one of its two reactors earlier this week for the same reason, with the second expected to soon follow.
Two helicopters collide outside Athens as Greece battles to control wildfires
Two firefighting helicopters have collided west of Athens on Sunday, killing the two-person crew of one of the aircraft, as efforts to control a massive wildfire barrelling towards the outskirts of the Greek capital intensified.
Footage showed one of the helicopters losing control in the face of gale-force winds that have pushed flames towards settlements on Athens’ western fringes.
“The pilots … were taken unconscious to hospital, where their death was confirmed,” said the fire department’s director of communications, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis.
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said the two dead were a Dane and a Greek. The two crew members of the second helicopter were rescued.
Morning opening: South-eastern Europe braces for heatwave, energy crunch
Jakub Krupa
The latest heatwave seen in western Europe last week are now moving eastwards, with large parts of central and southern Europe set to experience extreme temperatures near 40C, and putting countries at risk of an energy crunch.
Hungary was forced to shut down most of its sole nuclear power plant, which generates a large part of the country’s energy supply, for the first time in 44 years as the drying out of the Danube made it impossible to cool safely. The nuclear plant is expected to be completely powered down later this week as water levels on the Danube river are projected to fall further.
On Monday, many digital advertising screens will be turned off to save energy, as part of a broader push to seek savings wherever possible.
Hungarian prime minister Péter Magyar warned on Monday that “the hardest five days are ahead.”
Romania and Serbia also reported their lowest-ever water levels, causing issues with hydropower generation.
Budapest and Vienna will see temperatures of up to 37C today, with Zagreb at 36C, Tirana at 35C, and Bucharest at 33C, and these temperatures are expected to last for up to five days.
But that doesn’t mean it will be necessarily much cooler in the west, with 36C in Rome and 34C in Paris.
Elsewhere, I will keep an eye on the political fallout from the migration crisis in Ceuta last week, with EU ambassadors meeting this morning for what is likely to be a fierce discussion on what’s next ahead of tomorrow’s talks between interior ministers.
I will bring you all the updates from across Europe as the day progresses.
It’s Monday, 3 August 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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