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Jellyfish have partially shut down a nuclear power plant in France after they entered the reactors’ cooling systems, the second time the gelatinous sea creatures have disrupted EDF’s production in recent weeks.
One 1,300 megawatt reactor at EDF’s Paluel plant on the Normandy coast was paused late on Wednesday, while production at another was cut in half, the company said, as a smack of jellyfish became stuck in filter drums in the reactors’ pumping systems.
Reactors often use seawater to cool their operations, as nuclear energy produces masses of heat. But warmer water temperatures in the English Channel this summer have led jellyfish to reproduce in much higher numbers than usual, affecting production at the plants.
EDF said “the massive and sudden arrival of jellyfish” shut down production last month at four reactors in Gravelines, another nuclear plant situated on France’s northern coast, disrupting production for 10 days.
While the Gravelines reactors were automatically stopped after jellyfish swarmed into the site, EDF shut down the Paluel reactors as a preventive measure, a spokesperson for the French energy group said on Thursday.
EDF has said it will aim to put in place measures to prevent a recurrence of the problem at Gravelines, with the spokesperson adding the company would do the same at Paluel.
The state-owned company added the jellyfish had affected the “non-nuclear” part of the reactors but not affected the safety of the plants.
Production at other nuclear sites across France compensated for the closure of the 1,300MW reactors. The spokesperson said the reactors could resume full production as soon as Friday, if the problem is resolved in time.
Other sites in France have also been shut down periodically over recent summers because of high water temperatures, which have made it difficult to cool reactors, in a sign of how climate change is affecting EDF’s energy production.
The threat of disruptive wildlife has become an increasing concern for EDF.
The company considered installing a so-called “fish disco” at Hinkley Point C, the reactor under construction in Somerset, south-west England, to ward off sea life from the site, after protesters criticised the project’s fish protection measures.
EDF is now exploring whether it can use new fish deterrent technology involving devices that make very high frequency sounds, having decided against its earlier plan to install underwater loudspeakers.
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