A swarm of jellyfish caused officials at Paluel\u2019s nuclear power plant to shut down one of its four reactors. The incident occurred for the second time in a month, causing the output to reduce by 2.4 gigawatts.<\/p>\n
Electricit\u00e9 de France (EDF), France\u2019s national energy firm, confirmed that the jellyfish entered the filters of the water pumping station \u2013 the non-nuclear part of the plant \u2013 and caused the disruption. <\/p>\n
The crew at the power plant is now working to restore the reactor\u2019s full operation.<\/p>\n
Why does it matter?<\/p>\n
Nuclear energy contributes to about 70% of France\u2019s energy consumption, according to the World Nuclear Association(WNA). Paluel, based in Normandy, is the second-largest nuclear power plant in the country with a 5.2 gigawatt output. Each of its four reactors generates 1,300 megawatts of power.<\/p>\n
Paluel is also one of the many power stations that draws seawater directly from the ocean as a coolant for its inner workings. <\/p>\n
The power plant draws the water from the English Channel, which has warmer temperatures and ideal conditions for jellyfish reproduction.<\/p>\n
Hence, it houses more swarms of jellyfish<\/a> that can easily find their way into the water pumping station of the reactors.<\/p>\n The official statement<\/p>\n In their statement, EDF confirmed that they shut down one of the four reactors at Paluel at 9 p.m. local time<\/a> on Wednesday, September 3, after jellyfish entered the pumping station.<\/p>\n \u201cProduction unit No. 4 was safely shut down by the operator following the arrival of jellyfish at the filters (pre-screens and filter drums) of the pumping station, located in the non-nuclear part of the facilities,\u201d EDF said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese stations draw in seawater to cool the facilities. At the same time, the power of production unit No. 3 was reduced as a precaution.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe plant teams are mobilized and are currently carrying out the necessary diagnostics and interventions to be able to restart production unit No. 4 safely and restore full power to production unit No. 3.\u201d<\/p>\n At one point, only two of Paluel\u2019s four reactors were running at full capacity. When running at full capacity, it is also the seventh largest in the world by power output.<\/p>\n A history of jellyfish siege<\/p>\n Interestingly, this isn\u2019t the only time jellyfish have attacked a nuclear reactor. The Gravelines<\/a> nuclear power plant faced a similar problem last month, when jellyfish<\/a> clogged up the cooling system to cause four of its units to switch off automatically.<\/p>\n In 1993, the Gravelines power plant also faced a similar situation with jellyfish.<\/p>\n