A nuclear facility in northern France temporarily halted operations due to a jellyfish invasion but began resuming activity on Wednesday, according to operator EDF, with one of the four affected reactors now back in service.
Europe’s Largest Nuclear Power Station
Located near Dunkirk on the French coast, the Gravelines plant is the largest nuclear power station in Western Europe, housing six 900-megawatt reactors.
Four reactors were shut down on Sunday and Monday when a dense swarm of jellyfish blocked the plant’s cooling pumps.
“Reactor No. 6 came back online at 7:30 a.m. today,” an EDF spokeswoman told AFP, noting that work continues to restart the other three reactors in the coming days.
The plant’s remaining two reactors are currently offline for scheduled maintenance.
EDF confirmed that the incident posed no risk to the safety of the facilities, workers, or the environment.
This is not the first time Gravelines has faced such an issue — jellyfish also disrupted operations there in the 1990s. Similar incidents have caused temporary shutdowns at plants in the United States, Sweden, and Japan.
Environmental Factors Behind the Surge
Scientists point to overfishing, plastic pollution, and climate change as factors enabling jellyfish populations to grow and spread.
Nuclear energy provides roughly 60% of France’s electricity, and the country maintains one of the world’s largest nuclear power programs.
Read the original article on: Science Alert
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