#nuclearplants — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #nuclearplants, aggregated by home.social.
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#French #NuclearPower production expected to be reduced on Wednesday
By Reuters
August 12, 2025PARIS, Aug 12 (Reuters) - "Power production at France's #Bugey3 #nuclear reactor in the east of the country is expected to be reduced by 500 megawatts (MW) on Wednesday, data from operator #EDF showed on Tuesday, as high river temperatures reduce the plant's ability to intake cooling water.
"A #heatwave throughout #France has led to multiple warnings of power reductions at a number of #NuclearPlants, particularly on the #RhoneRiver in the east and the #GaronneRiver in the west."The #Bugey 3 reactor has a maximum capacity of 910 MW, which will be reduced to 410 MW from 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) to midnight on Wednesday as the reactor is required to meet environmental safety measures, EDF's data showed.
"The high water temperature warnings for the #SaintAlban plant - down river of the Bugey site - and the #Golfech site in the west were moved to August 14, but restrictions have not yet been issued.
Average temperatures in the country are expected to continue to peak throughout the week, reaching a high of 28.5 degrees Celsius (83.3°F) on Saturday, LSEG data showed."#NuclearPower accounts for about 70% of total French power consumption annually, but August is the main holiday season throughout the country and electricity demand is often limited."
#EuropeHeatWaves #France #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #NuclearPowerNoThanks #NuclearWasteIsForever #NuclearPowerPlants #ExtremeHeat #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #RethinkNotRestart
#LeNucléaireNonMerci -
#Jellyfish Shut Four French #NuclearReactors as #HeatWave Builds
By Eamon Farhat
August 11, 2025"#Electricite de France SA [#EDF] was forced to shut four #AtomicReactors after a swarm of jellyfish clogged up filter drums at its #Gravelines power plant.
"The 'massive and unforeseen' [um, not if you read my posts -- very much FORESEEN] presence of jellyfish in the filter drums of pumping stations closed four out of six reactors at Gravelines on the north coast of France, EDF said in a statement on Monday. Pumping stations for coastal #NuclearPlants usually draw in sea water for cooling, sometimes exposing them to marine life.
"A #MarineHeatWave is intensifying off the west coast of France, with unusually warm waters in the English Channel near Gravelines, data from #Copernicus Marine Service show. Jellyfish populations can 'bloom' at such times, and France has closed several beaches in recent weeks due to invasions of the eight-legged molluscs, according reports compiled by the beach information app Meduseo."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/bahil#EuropeHeatWaves #France #Jellyfish #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #NuclearPowerNoThanks #NuclearWasteIsForever #NuclearPowerPlants #ExtremeHeat #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #RethinkNotRestart
#LeNucléaireNonMerci -
The #HeatWave of late June threatens French #nuclear production
Written by Justine Dumont, Energy Renovation Expert Editor on 24 June 2025 at 08:00
"#EDF plans to reduce the production of its nuclear fleet, in particular that of the #Bugey power plant in Ain, as of Wednesday 25 June, due to the expected high temperatures. This decision comes at a time when Météo-France has placed 16 departments in orange-heat-wave vigilance since Friday 20 June."
Read more (en Français):
https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/normandie/manche/nucleaire-la-pleine-puissance-de-l-epr-de-flamanville-repoussee-d-ici-a-la-fin-de-l-automne-3196599.html#EuropeHeatWaves #NuclearPowerPlants #NuclearPlants #NoNukes #NuclearPowerNoThanks #NuclearWasteIsForever #NuclearPlants #Heatwaves #ExtremeHeat #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #RethinkNotRestart
#NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #LeNucléaireNonMerci -
Invasion of #jellyfish, heat, water too hot: #GlobalWarming threatens the functioning of #NuclearPowerPlants
Several reactors are regularly forced to stop to protect river #biodiversity. While cuts in periods of high heat still have a very limited impact on supply, electrification of uses and #ClimateChange could make a difference.
Marie Toulgoat , Published 11 August 2025
"When nature paralyses the French nuclear park. Four units of the Gravelines nuclear power plant (northern) are at a standstill on Monday 11 August due to the 'mass and unforeseeable presence of jellyfish; at the water pumping stations used for the cooling of the reactors, EDF announced.
"These automatic stops of units 2, 3, 4 and 6 'have had no consequences on the safety of the installations, the safety of personnel or on the environment', #EDF assures on its site. The plant is thus temporarily completely shut down, as its other two production units 1 and 5 are currently under maintenance.
"On Sunday, 29 June, no steam volutes escaped from the chimneys of the Gulf nuclear power plant (Tarn-et-Garonne). Due to the intense #HeatWave in #France, the reactor in operation at the site was shut down. In the middle of the summer of 2024, the nuclear power plant had already been forced to reduce its production."
Read more (en Français):
https://www.humanite.fr/environnement/canicule/meduses-canicule-eau-trop-chaude-quand-le-rechauffement-climatique-menace-le-fonctionnement-des-centrales-nucleairesArchived version (en Français):
https://archive.ph/zNGD2#NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #NuclearPowerNoThanks #NuclearWasteIsForever #NuclearPowerPlants
#NuclearPowerNoThanks
#NuclearPlants #Heatwaves
#ExtremeHeat #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #RethinkNotRestart
#NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #Atomkraft #AtomkraftNeinDanke #LeNucléaireNonMerci -
[Paywall] From 2021: Increase in frequency of nuclear power outages due to changing climate
by Ali Ahmad
Nature Energy volume 6, pages 755–762 (2021)
Abstract:
"Climate-related changes have already affected operating conditions for different types of energy system, in particular power plants. With more than three decades of data on changing climate, we are now in a position to empirically assess the impact of #ClimateChange on power plant operations. Such empirical assessments can provide an additional measure of the resilience of power plants going forward. Here I analyse climate-linked outages in #NuclearPowerPlants over the past three decades. My assessment shows that the average frequency of climate-induced disruptions has dramatically increased from 0.2 outage per reactor-year in the 1990s to 1.5 in the past decade. Based on the projections for adopted climate scenarios, the average annual energy loss of the global nuclear fleet is estimated to range between 0.8% and 1.4% in the mid-term (2046–2065) and 1.4% and 2.4% in the long term (2081–2100)."
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-021-00849-y
#NuclearPlants #NuclearPowerNoThanks #ClimateChange #Heatwaves #ExtremeHeat #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoNukesForAI
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We’re having a #heatwave...
And #NuclearPower can’t cope. Worse still, it’s actually a liability under ever more extreme climate conditions, write Karl Grossman and Harvey Wasserman
Posted on July 27, 2025, by #BeyondNuclear
"At the core of the latest attempted 'renaissance' of nuclear power is the big lie that #AtomicReactors are an answer to #GlobalWarming. In fact, they are significant sources of heat.
"There are more than 400 nuclear power plants in the world today that fission atoms at 300 degrees Centigrade, (572 degrees Fahrenheit). More are under construction or proposed. As the International Atomic Energy Agency states, 'water-cooled reactors offer heat up to 300 degrees Celsius. These types of reactors include pressurized water reactors (PWRs), boiling-water reactors (BWRs), pressurized heavy-water reactors, and light-water-cooled graphite-moderated reactors (LWGRs).'
"Some heat is absorbed in the water—drawn from water bodies—used to cool these nuclear power plants and then returned, still with considerable heat, to #rivers or #seas.
"The heatwave going on in recent weeks in Europe, in combination with this discharge of heated water from nuclear plants, has caused #NuclearPlants there to shut down.
"Consider these headlines from recent days:
" '#France and #Switzerland shut down nuclear power plants amid scorching heatwave,' was the July 3rd headline on Euronews. As the piece explained: “To cool down, nuclear power plants pump water from local rivers or the sea, which they then release back into water bodies at a high temperature. However, Europe’s ongoing heatwave means that the water pumped by nuclear sites is already very hot, impacting the ability of nuclear plants to use it to cool down. On top of this, nuclear sites run the risk of posing a dangerous threat to local #biodiversity, by releasing water which is too hot into rivers and seas.'
"A New York Times article, also dated July 3rd, related how in Europe, 'operators shut down one of the two reactors at the #Golfech nuclear power plant in southern #France after forecasts that the #GaronneRiver, from which it draws water and then discharges it after it is used in the plant as coolant, 'could top…82 degrees Fahrenheit.' The Times continued: 'The #Beznau Nuclear Power Plant in #Switzerland, built along the #AareRiver followed suit, shutting down one of its reactors on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday.' "
Source:
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/blog/#ExtremeHeat #ClimateChange #NuclearPowerPlants #NuclearPowerNoThanks #RenewablesNow! #WaterIsLife #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI
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Four days ago: #Spain Signals Openness to Keeping #NuclearPowerPlants Open
By Daniel Basteiro and Thomas Gualtieri
April 24, 2025"Spain is signaling for the first time that it’s open to reconsidering the shutdown of #NuclearPlants over the next decade amid a global revival of #AtomicEnergy.
While that’s not the plan agreed with nuclear plant operators, and it would be up to them to present concrete proposals, extensions are not ruled out, Environmental Transition Minister Sara Aagesen said in an interview." 'Nuclear energy will be present in our mix at least until 2035' but could go beyond that if companies propose extensions, which hasn’t happened yet, she said prior to an International Energy Agency summit on the future of energy security. 'We’re not considering anything because there is no specific proposal on the table.' "
Today [April 28th] "Spain's nuclear power plants automatically stopped, but diesel generators were activated to keep them in 'safe condition', officials said."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/cJiGM#RethinkNotRestart #RenewablesNow #Hydropower #Solar #Geothermal #NoNukesForAI #NoNukes #ExtremeHeat #ExtremeFlooding #NuclearMeltdowns #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #Blackout
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#Wildfire risks high at #US #NuclearPlants
Posted on January 19, 2025 by beyondnuclearinternational
The GAO identifies a number of US nuclear power plant sites that are vulnerable to the possible outbreak of #wildfires where they are located.
"'According to our analysis of U.S. Forest Service and NRC data, about 20 percent of nuclear power plants (16 of 75) are located in areas with a high or very high potential for wildfire,' the GAO report states. 'More specifically, more than one-third of nuclear power plants in the South (nine of 25) and West (three of eight) are located in areas with a high or very high potential for wildfire.' The GAO goes on to identify 'Of the 16 plants with high or very high potential for wildfire, 12 are operating and four are shut down.'
"To analyze exposure to the wildfire hazard potential, the GAO used 2023 data from the U.S. Forest Service’s Wildfire Hazard Potential Map. 'High / very high refers to plants in areas with high or very high wildfire hazard potential. Those nuclear power stations described by GAO as 'high / very high' exposure to wildfires and their locations are excerpted from GAO Appendix III: Nuclear Power Plant Exposure to Selected Natural Hazards.
Table 1: Potential High Exposure to 'Wildfires' at Operating Nuclear Power Plants
–AZ / #SAFER, one of two mobile nuclear emergency equipment supply units in the nation, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–CA / #DiabloCanyon Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–FL / #TurkeyPoint Units 3 & 4 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–GA / #EdwinIHatch Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–GA / #Vogtle Units Units 1, 2, 3 & 4, nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NC / #BrunswickNC Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NC / #McGuireNC Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NC / #ShearonHarris Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH /VERY HIGH”
–NB / #CooperNuclearPowerStation, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–SC / #Catawba Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–SC / #HBRobinson Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–WA / #ColumbiaNuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”Table 2: Potential High Exposure to “Wildfires” at Shutdown Nuclear Power Plants
–CA / #SanOnofre Units 1 & 2, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–FL / #CrystalRiver, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NJ / #OysterCreek, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NY / #IndianPoint Units 1, 2 & 3, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”"Wildfires can transport #radioactive contamination from nuclear facilities
"A historical review of wildfires that occur around nuclear facilities (research, military and commercial power) identifies that these events are also a very effective transport mechanism of radioactivity previously generated at these sites and subsequently released into the environment by accident, spills and leaks, and careless dumping. The radioactivity is #resuspended by wildfires that occur years, even decades later.
"The fires carry the radioactivity on smoke particles #downwind, thus expanding the zone of #contamination further and further with each succeeding fire. The dispersed #radionuclides can have very long half-lives meaning they remain biologically hazardous in the environment for decades, centuries and longer."
Read more:
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2025/01/19/wildfire-risks-high-at-nuclear-plants/
#Downwinders #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NuclearSafety #ClimateCrisis -
#HinkleyPointC delayed to 2029 at the earliest as budget increases substantially
by Jack Loughran
January 24, 2024"#Environmental campaigners are currently making efforts to block its construction over claims that the government did not assess the environmental impact of its proposals for a #water supply."
#NoNukes #UK #CashStrapped #WaterIsLife #EDF #HinkleyPoint #ExtremeWeather #ClimateCrisis #NuclearPlants #UK #CoastalFlooding #RenewablesNow
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#Fukushima Up Close, 13 Years Later
by Robert Hunziker
October 13, 2023"The world is turning to #NuclearPower as a solution to #GlobalWarming, but it is postulated herein that it is a huge mistake that endangers society. One #nuclear #meltdown causes as much damage over the long-term as a major #war. Moreover, according to Dr. #PaulDorfman, chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, former secretary to the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Internal Radiation: 'It’s important to understand that nuclear is very likely to be a significant climate casualty.'
"#BeyondNuclearInternational recently published an article about the status of Fukushima as well as an exposé of how the nuclear industry gets away with responsibility for #radiation-caused (1) deaths (2) chronic conditions like #cancer (3) #genetic deformities: A Strategy of Concealment, September 24, 2023, by #KolinKobayashi, who is a Tokyo-born France-based anti-nuclear #activist journalist also serving as president of Echo-Exchange. Kobayashi’s work was posted by CounterPunch under the title: How Agencies That Promote Nuclear Power Are Quietly Managing Its Disaster Narrative.
"The following synopsis, including editorial license that adds important death details which defy the nuclear industry’s bogus claims about nuclear safety, opens closed pathways to what’s really going on.
"After thirteen years, the declaration of a State of Emergency for #FukushimaDaiichi Nuclear Power Plant still cannot be lifted because of many unknowns, as well as ubiquitous deadly radiation levels. The destroyed reactors are tinderboxes of highly radioactive spent fuel rods that contain more cesium-137 than eighty-five (85) #Chernobyls. Cesium-137 in or near a human body erupts into a series of maladies, one after another in short order, depending upon level of exposure: (1) nausea (2) vomiting (3) diarrhea (4) bleeding (5) coma leading to death.
"The spent fuel rods at the Fukushima nuclear reactor site are stored in pools of water on the top floor of compromised reactor buildings 100 feet above ground level, except for Unit 3 which completed removal of its spent fuel rods in 2019, an extremely slow, laborious process that’s highly dangerous.
"Stored spent fuel rods in open pools of water are the epitome of high-risk. 'If the 440 tonne vessel collapses, it could hit the storage pool next to it. If this pool is damaged, even partially, another major disaster could occur.' (Kobayashi) In that regard, there’s significant risk of collapse in the event of a strong #earthquake. And #Japan is one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world. 'The city (Tokyo) government’s experts reckon there is a 70% chance of a magnitude 7, or higher, quake hitting the capital within the next 30 years.' (Source: Japan is Preparing for a Massive Earthquake, The Economist, August 31, 2023)
"If exposed to open air, #SpentFuel rods erupt into a sizzling zirconium fire followed by massive radiation bursts of the most toxic material on the planet. It can upend an entire countryside and force evacuation of major cities. According to the widely recognized nuclear expert Paul Blanch: 'Continual storage in spent fuel pools is the most unsafe thing you could do.' Paul Blanch, registered professional engineer, US Navy Reactor Operator & Instructor with 55 years of experience with nuclear engineering and regulatory agencies, is widely recognized as one of America’s leading experts on nuclear power.
"#FukushimaDaichi Nuclear Power Plant will remain a high-risk explosive scenario for decades ahead. After all, a program for future decommissioning is unclear and overall radiation guesstimates are formidable. All the structures where decommissioning will take place are highly radioactive and as such nearly impossible for the dangers to worker exposure."
Read more:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/10/13/fukushima-up-close-13-years-later/#FukushimaWater #WaterIsLife #TEPCOLies
#NuclearPlants #NoNewNukes #ClimateChange #PacificOcean #Pollution
#Bioaccumulation #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart -
Are #Coastal #Nuclear Power Plants Ready for #SeaLevelRise?
As shorelines creep inland and #storms worsen, nuclear reactors around the world face new challenges.
by John Vidal, August 21, 2018
"The outer defensive wall of what is expected to be the world’s most expensive nuclear power station is taking shape on the shoreline of the choppy gray waters of the Bristol Channel in western England.
"By the time the US $25-billion #HinkleyPointC nuclear station is finished, possibly in 2028, the concrete seawall will be 12.5 meters high, 900 meters long, and durable enough, the UK regulator and French engineers say, to withstand the strongest storm surge, the greatest tsunami, and the highest sea-level rise.
"But will it? Independent nuclear consultant #PeteRoche, a former adviser to the UK government and #Greenpeace, points out that the tidal range along this stretch of coast is one of the highest in the world, and that #erosion is heavy. Indeed, observers reported serious flooding on the site in 1981 when an earlier nuclear power station had to be shut down for a week, following a #SpringTide and a #StormSurge. However well built, says Roche, the new seawall does not adequately take into account #sealevel rise due to climate change.
"#Flooding can be catastrophic to a nuclear power plant because it can knock out its electrical systems, disabling its cooling mechanisms and leading to overheating and possible #meltdown and a dangerous release of #radioactivity. Flooding at the #FukushimaDaiichi plant in Japan as a result of the March 2011 tsunami caused severe damage to several of the plant’s reactors and only narrowly avoided a catastrophic release of radioactivity that could have forced the evacuation of 50 million people.
"In the #UnitedStates, where nine nuclear plants are within three kilometers of the #ocean and four reactors have been identified by Stanford academics as vulnerable to #StormSurges and sea-level rise, flooding is common, says David Lochbaum, a former nuclear engineer and director of the nuclear safety project at the Union of Concerned Scientists (#UCS).
"Lochbaum says over 20 flooding incidents have been recorded at US nuclear plants since the early 1980s. “The most likely [cause of flooding] is the increasing frequency of extreme events,' he says."
#ExtremeWeather #ClimateCrisis #NuclearPlants #UK #HinkleyPoint #CoastalFlooding
Full article:
https://hakaimagazine.com/features/are-coastal-nuclear-power-plants-ready-for-sea-level-rise/