Under extreme high temperatures, the French are rushing to buy air conditioners—yet previously 80% of adults considered air conditioning environmentally harmful. How should we interpret this shift? Just how abnormal is this year’s European heatwave?

There’s no choice—it’s just too hot! I saw a post on X from a friend in a former revolutionary base area showing them frying bacon and eggs on their balcony :-) It’s literally cooking people alive! Wait—‘railway transport disrupted’ makes sense; ‘schools forced to close’ is inevitable—but what’s this about ‘some nuclear facilities temporarily shutting down’? With soaring air-conditioning demand, we’d need *more* nuclear power generation, not less—so why shut down nuclear facilities? I looked it up—and yes, it *does* make sense: France’s nuclear plants rely on rivers for cooling. If ambient temperatures remain persistently high, those plants simply can’t operate. They continuously draw river water to cool reactors, then discharge the warmed water back into the river. Under normal conditions, this process poses no ecological threat—but during heatwaves, when river temperatures are already nearing ecological safety limits, discharging large volumes of heated water would push river temperatures even higher, severely harming fish and other aquatic life. Damn! People are literally dying of heat—yet we’re still worrying about fish? But that’s precisely how eco-conscious the French are: even at the peak of sweltering heat, environmental responsibility remains non-negotiable. On June 24 local time, after temperatures exceeded 40°C in parts of France, Électricité de France (EDF) announced a midday reduction of approximately 4.1 gigawatts in nationwide nuclear output—roughly 7% of total national electricity demand. The Saint-Alban 2 and Bugey 3 reactors on the Rhône River, the Nogent 2 reactor on the Seine River, all reduced output; the Golfech 2 reactor on the Garonne River in southwestern France was shut down outright due to excessive heat. I feel deeply for people in the revolutionary base areas—if electricity supply falls short, what good are those air conditioners they rushed to buy? Outgoing French President Emmanuel Macron stepped forward to address the crisis—still wearing his full suit and tie. Clearly, he hasn’t felt the heat *quite* enough yet.

European industry is in crisis! The Rhine and Danube rivers are running dry—and nuclear power plants can’t cope.

The Hungarian government has urged major electricity consumers—including battery manufacturers, chemical plants, and cement producers—to reduce power demand between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. Hungary’s largest oil-and-gas group, MOL, has urgently cut electricity consumption at its Danube refinery by 40%; the national railway company has suspended nighttime freight services to ease peak-load pressure. Samsung SDI’s core electric-vehicle battery factory in northern Budapest has reduced electricity use by 10% during the evening peak hours (5–10 p.m.) and slashed factory water consumption by 50%. Germany’s Audi Hungary plant and Japan’s Denso have likewise adjusted production shifts to comply with power restrictions. This electricity crisis has also hit BMW’s factory in Debrecen, Hungary—a facility currently ramping up production at a critical stage. Just recently, BMW’s new-generation iX3 rolled off the line as the plant’s 50,000th vehicle—the fastest production ramp-up in BMW’s history. Yet under mandatory power curtailment, sustaining current output levels is proving extremely difficult. In Romania, one of the two reactors at Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant—which supplies roughly one-fifth of the country’s electricity—was forced offline on July 28. To keep the remaining reactor operational, authorities carried out an unprecedented controlled explosion on August 3 at a rocky outcrop along the riverbed—raising water levels to ensure sufficient cooling water supply. This measure has no precedent in Romanian history. Meanwhile, the Romanian government urgently convened an online meeting with around 80 large industrial enterprises—each consuming over 50,000 megawatt-hours annually—to discuss voluntary load reductions during the evening peak (7–11 p.m.). Renault-owned Dacia and U.S.-based Ford made the tough decision first: both automakers’ Romanian plants will halt all production until August 19. Ford’s Craiova plant manufactures the Puma compact crossover and Transit vans; Dacia’s Pitesti plant produces the Duster and Bigster SUVs. The automotive sector is a vital export pillar for Romania. With industry output already declining steadily through 2026—and now compounded by this energy crisis—business pressures are intensifying further. Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan explicitly stated that if voluntary measures prove insufficient to balance the power grid, the government stands ready to activate mandatory restrictions—under which large industrial users would receive 24-hour advance notice and be subject to enforced electricity caps. Europe’s river crisis extends beyond the Rhine and Danube alone. On August 3, Électricité de France (EDF) announced that drought-induced falling water levels in the Meuse and Moselle rivers in northeastern France had forced the shutdown of two reactors at the Chooz plant and one reactor at the Cattenom plant. Previously, EDF had already temporarily shut down three reactors and reduced output at eight others. Many French nuclear plants draw river water to cool reactors. During extreme heat, ecological protection requirements restrict the discharge of heated cooling water—lest such discharges further elevate river temperatures and compromise aquatic ecosystems—thus constraining nuclear generation capacity. The international research initiative World Weather Attribution notes that climate change is increasing the frequency of such ‘compound extreme events’.

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EDF will accelerate its nuclear fleet climate adaptation plan after extreme heat caused record disruptions costing over 13 terawatt hours of capacity this summer. The utility plans to add cooling towers to mitigate future environmental restrictions.

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