Four reactors at France's Gravelines nuclear plant will return to operation throughout the week, slightly later than initially planned, operator EDF's data showed on Tuesday, after they were forced offline by a swarm of jellyfish in the cooling systems.
The plant in northern France is one of the largest in the country and is cooled from a canal connected to the North Sea. Its six units produce 900MW of power each, or 5.4 gigawatts in total.
The first reactor, unit 6, is expected to restart on Tuesday, and then one reactor is expected to come back online each day until all four have returned to service on Friday, EDF data showed.
The original plan was for all four to restart on Tuesday. EDF did not give a reason for the delay, though France is in the midst of a heatwave that is creating challenges for many nuclear cooling systems.
The entire Gravelines plant was temporarily halted on Monday after a “massive and unpredictable” swarm of jellyfish got into the cooling systems, the utility company said. Four reactors were taken offline while the other two were undergoing planned maintenance.
This is not the first time jellyfish have disrupted nuclear plants. Scotland's Torness faced similar problems in 2011, while Gravelines was disrupted in 1993.
Scientists warn such events could become more common due to factors including global warming, the arrival of invasive species, habitat loss of predators and over-fishing.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.