Romania is left without nuclear, and the price rose 18% in a single day

Unit 2 of the Cernavodă nuclear power station has shut down, and Romania is left without nuclear generation. We checked what the measurements we collect every day say.

Nuclear fell to zero on 13 August. Up to 12 August the system was reporting 624 MW of nuclear on average — a single unit's worth, since Unit 1 was already off. On 13 August the day's average was 253 MW, and from 14 August reported nuclear generation is zero, and has stayed there.

The price rose 18.0% in a single day. The day-ahead market average went from 138.3 EUR/MWh on 12 August to 163.2 EUR/MWh on 13 August. The next day it came down to 143.0, and at the weekend to 115.2 EUR/MWh, along with the lower demand. From Monday 17 August the average settled above 170 EUR/MWh — higher, that is, than before the shutdown.

No single source closed the gap. Comparing the two weeks either side of the shutdown, the hourly average rose for reservoir hydro (+128 MW), solar (+92 MW), lignite (+62 MW) and gas (+45 MW). Together, some 350 MW of the 624 lost.

Wind did not help — it fell. Over the same period, wind generation came down by 167 MW on average. The wind takes no notice of the reactors' schedule, and the two together left the system short of almost 800 MW of average generation.

Demand closed most of the gap. Average demand fell from 5,642 to 5,283 MW, that is 359 MW — it is the middle of August, with factories stopped and people on holiday. That drop covered more than any of the plants that rose.

The figures are hourly averages from the system operator's data, compared between 5–12 August and 14–21 August 2026. The prices are the daily averages of the day-ahead market. You can follow them day by day at prices and Romania.