In France, 70% of electricity is produced by one of the 18 operating nuclear power plants in the area, for a total of 57 reactors that produce almost 400 TWH every year. So imagine how the technicians of the largest central in the country, that of Gravelines, should be heard, when a few days ago they had to suspend the production of four reactors because of the jellyfish.
Reported first by AFPthe news made the classic tour of the world, also because it is not the first time that the jellyfish make such a joke.
The help of the sea. Built near Dunkirk and Calais, and then overlooking the North Sea, the Gradelines plant is the largest in France and the second largest in Europe after the Ukrainian of Zaporižja’s Ukrainian. Activate since 1980, it has four operational reactors, each with a power of 910 MW. By alone, this plant helps to produce about 6% of the country’s electricity. The proximity to the North Sea is essential for its operation: the reactors cooling pumps take water from a channel connected directly from the sea.
More and more jellyfish. And it is here that the problem with the jellyfish is born, which judge from the photos belong to the species Rhizostoma Pulmothe so -called sea lung, the larger medusa species in the Mediterranean (even if the species has not been confirmed by the managers of the plant).
Their “explosion” is not new: with the increase in the temperatures of the sea, the so -called Bloom They are increasingly frequent, as also show the photos that come from Gravelines and that show dozens of beached specimens. Therefore, the plant, which takes the cooling water from the sea: in this way it has “aspirated” huge quantities of jellyfish, which went to clog the pipes.
Drop in energy. The result is that the first three reactors went automatically, followed by the fourth which was instead manually stopped by the employees of the plant. Edf (Electricite de France), the group that manages the reactor, announced that the operation took place without hitches: neither the workers of the power plant, nor the surrounding environment have run risks.
Unlike French electrical production, which for a couple of days collapsed unexpectedly (even if not perceived by the population, given that the shortage has been replaced with energy from other sources).
An old problem. It is not the first time that jellyfish created problems for a nuclear power plant.
It had already happened in Gravelines in the nineties, it happened in Sweden in 2013 and in recent years it has happened in Japan, China and India due to a jellyfish, Aurelia Coeruleanative of the Pacific, but very invasive and already identified in the North Sea in 2020.
In short: jellyfish can create problems for nuclear power plants, and it is time to study effective methods to prevent it from happening.
