The Gravelines nuclear power plant, near Dunkirk, has finally started to produce energy, after being stopped for several days … due to an invasion of jellyfish.
The Gravelines power station is the most powerful in France and even in the European Union. This installation alone is able to supply several million households thanks to its six 900 MW reactors each. But the latter have been strongly impacted in recent days.
Two of them, namely reactors 1 and 5, were already stopped for routine maintenance. But the other four were also forced to take a vacation, this time because of a rare and totally unpredictable phenomenon: An invasion of jellyfish.
On the weekend of August 9, the pools that feed the pumping stations necessary to cool the reactors were taken by storm by hordes of jellyfish. More specifically, it was Rhizostoma octopusor cauliflower jellyfish for friends.
It is a species that is not equipped to consciously go; She moves by just being carried away by the COURANt. The latter unfortunately took them to the level of filter drumsdesigned to prevent debris from entering the system. This created a large gelatinous cap likely to compromise the cooling of the four active reactors, which were therefore automatically arrested.
No impact on the network
One might think that stopping such an important installation could pose major problems, especially in a country where nuclear produces more than half of electricity. Fortunately, the impact was quite limited, and even almost imperceptible for the population.
In a press release relayed by AFP and Ouest-FranceEDF explained that the judgment had “ no consequence on the safety of facilities, staff safety or the environment ». In addition, no power outage has occurred; Electricity consumption is generally lower in summer, which has left a certain room for maneuver to operators.
A rare event … for the moment
This is a rare event. In Europe, it was only the third time in fifteen years that a nuclear power plant is thus paralyzed by jellyfish, after a Scottish power plant in 2011 and another in Sweden in 2013. Ouest-France Also recalls that the Gravelines power station has already been put in difficulty by marine organizations around 1990, even if they were sea currants and not jellyfish. These incidents have led to the implementation of additional filtration systems.
The situation has already started to return to normal. In the morning of Wednesday August 13, reactor number 6 finally resumed service, followed closely by reactor number 2.. The others will in turn be restarted in the coming days, according to an EDF press release. In short, everything is good that ends well … for the moment.
Indeed, several studies have shown that jellyfish tend to reproduce more quickly when the water temperature increases. However, all climatic data show that the oceans have continued to warm up for over ten years. In theory, it is therefore not impossible that the invasions of jellyfish become more and more frequent, which could push the site managers to set up a real program to follow these animals.
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