Record low rivers force more reactors offline across Europe

What happened

• EDF shut Chooz reactor 1 late on Saturday, 1 August, under a 1998 Franco-Belgian Meuse accord; Chooz 2 has been offline since 11 July.
• One Cattenom reactor went offline overnight into Saturday as the Moselle fell; EDF is also cutting output at four further reactors.
• The Rhine at Kaub fell to 24 centimetres on Monday, the lowest since records began in 1880; Cologne hit 67 centimetres on Saturday.
• Hungary's Paks plant, which supplies over 40 percent of national electricity, runs at just over 10 percent capacity as the Danube shrinks.
• Low water exposed scuttled German WWII naval wrecks near Prahovo in Serbia, where around 200 vessels were sunk to block Soviet pursuers.

The view from outside

The National (UAE) is the only source to price the disruption: shipping diesel from Rotterdam to Karlsruhe costs the most since Bloomberg records began in 2009, and Rotterdam-Rhine cargo volumes are about 10 percent below normal. It quotes an analyst at the data firm Kpler saying the choice now is between blackouts and much higher investment.

What could happen next

• Paks could stay idle for weeks; Hungary would import more power, after households and over 300 companies already cut use voluntarily.
• It is open how long Meuse and Moselle limits keep French reactors down; the heatwave has stretched into this week.
• Barges are loading less to pass shallow stretches, keeping freight rates elevated and slowing the Rhine corridor.
• Le Monde reports the dry Rhine threatens to weigh on German GDP; that analysis is largely behind its paywall.