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France must shut down nuclear plants due to heatwaves

Power Generation Darkens the Sun

Creative Commons License Photo credit: christian.senger

The Times Online are reporting that France have been forced to close down a third of its nuclear power stations this summer due to heatwaves:

“France is being forced to import electricity from Britain to cope with a summer heatwave that has helped to put a third of its nuclear power stations out of action.

With temperatures across much of France surging above 30C this week, EDF’s reactors are generating the lowest level of electricity in six years, forcing the state-owned utility to turn to Britain for additional capacity.

Fourteen of France’s 19 nuclear power stations are located inland and use river water rather than seawater for cooling. When water temperatures rise,
EDF
is forced to shut down the reactors to prevent their casings from exceeding 50C.”

It seems thirsty nukes can't take the heat and that climate change puts nuclear energy into hot water. A question we must all ask our self: as the planet is warming up, is nuclear really a smart move?

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I never knew that you had to shut down Nuclear Power plants when it got too hot out. this certainly makes a big problem if the earth continues to heat up. but i would say that nuclear power is still a good way to generate electricity - at least for now.

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Guest www.sunwindproducts.com

Posted

That is the problem in France relying on and being so dependent cheap nuclear power. The country is not progressively pursuing solar power the way Germany has. In the short term they will enjoy cheap energy, but in the long term France will fall way behind the rest of the first world the way the usa has. However, USA has a chance to catch up because we are avoiding the cheap nuclear energy trap.

www.treehugger.tk

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