Gravelines, Western Europe’s largest nuclear energy station, was compelled to close down on Tuesday (Aug 11) after a swarm of jellyfish clogged the pumps used to chill the models. The incident occurred precisely a yr after the identical factor occurred when the facility station was overwhelmed by jellyfish, leaving operations on the facility disrupted for 2 days.
This time round, the plant’s operator, EDF, said that solely one of many six reactors was working at full capability. Three of the six 900-megawatt reactors have been taken offline fully, a fourth had its output halved, and one other was already offline for upkeep.
“This example has no impression on the protection of the services, the protection of our personnel, or the atmosphere,” EDF mentioned in an announcement on the most recent occasion.
“On-site groups are totally mobilised to make sure the protection of the services and to reconnect the reactors to the nationwide energy grid.”
Fishing vessels had been deployed and have been finishing up round the clock “preventive fishing operations”. Three boats have been patrolling the coast, catching jellyfish in trawlers and releasing them offshore. The pumping stations and the tools are additionally being cleaned as much as restart the operations.
As of the final replace, the precise species of jellyfish concerned within the incident was not recognized.
This isn’t the primary occasion during which reactors have been shut down in France this yr. EDF was compelled to close down a number of reactors in June and July due to excessive warmth and drought-like situations. Previous to this week’s closure, France recorded a shortfall of 15.6 per cent in nuclear energy manufacturing, in accordance with an AFP report.
Swarms of jellyfish have additionally compelled nuclear crops to close down elsewhere, together with a three-day closure in Sweden in 2013 and a 1999 incident in Japan that brought about a serious drop in output.
Consultants say overfishing, plastic air pollution, and warming seas as a consequence of local weather change have created situations permitting jellyfish to thrive and reproduce.
