It seems absurd but it’s all true: of jellyfish they caused the shutdown of one of the largest nuclear power plants in France. But how could it happen? On the night between Sunday and Monday, the Nuclear nuclear plant in northern France was temporarily stopped due to the “massive and unpredictable presence” of a colony of jellyfish in the water pumping systemsused for cool nuclear reactors.
In fact, this nuclear power plant is cooled thanks to the water pumped in a channel connected directly to the North Sea: thanks to their gelatinous body, the jellyfish managed to cross the first filters of this channel, ending up completely obstruct the filter drumsequipped with a very fine shirt to only pass the sea water.
In short, the jellyfish have physically blocked Direct water access to the cooling systems, causing the automatic stop of four out of six reactors. Since reactors 1 and 5 had already been temporarily stopped for maintenance work, the entire nuclear plant was completely off.
The EDF (Électriotricité de France), the state company that also manages the Gravelines plant, confirmed the immediate intervention to restore the production unit: that of Gravelines is one of the nuclear plants most important Of all France, with a total of six reactors that produce about 900 megawatts each, for a total of 5.5 gigawatt. By 2040, among other things, the plant will also host two new generation of EPR2 type reactors, each capable of producing 1,600 megawatts.
The plant, however, has not undergone any damage and the authorities reassured the population by confirming theabsence of risks: as required by the central safety protocols, the reactors in business are stop automatically As soon as the water stopped reaching sufficient quantities for cool the system. According to what reported by the French press, the restart of the Gravelines Nuclear power plant would be scheduled for Thursday, after the filters are completely cleaned up.
The cause of this accident is to be attributed, at least in part, to global warming and the increase in temperatures in the North Sea: the hottest waters, in fact, represent a ideal environment For the reproduction and growth of the jellyfish, which therefore approach much more to the coasts than in the past. All this, combined with the superpescal (i.e. to excessive fishing of fish species that feed on jellyfish), is therefore favoring the multiplication of jellyfish in the seas.
Similar episodes, however, had already happened in the past: in 2011 the jellyfish had caused problems for the nuclear power plant Tournamentin Scotlandwhile in 2013 these animals had caused a 3 -day block in the nuclear plant of Oskarshamn in Sweden. In both cases, the jellyfish had managed to cross the filters, effectively blocking the systems to withdraw the cooling water.
