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Jumps plague puts France's largest nuclear power plant - 5.5 GW is missing!
A jellyfish plague stops four reactors from the largest French nuclear power plant in Gravelines. Climate change and warm waters tighten the challenges.
Jumps plague puts France's largest nuclear power plant - 5.5 GW is missing!
On August 13, 2025, the largest nuclear power plant, the Gravelines nuclear power plant, near Calais, was temporarily taken out. Four out of a total of six reactors are due to a massive one Jellyfish no longer ready for operation. This unusual natural phenomenon has blocked the filter drums of the cooling water pumps, which led to an automatic switch -off of the reactors. While reactors 2, 3 and 4 were switched off on Sunday evening, reactor 6 followed on Monday morning. The two remaining reactors were already inactive due to maintenance work.
Due to the shutdowns, the French power grid lacks the entire performance of Gravelines, which is about 5.5 gigawatts. This is particularly alarming, since the power plant with its six pressurized water reactors has a gross power of around 5,460 megawatts, which makes it the most powerful nuclear power plant in France. The incident illustrates the difficulties with which nuclear power plants are confronted due to climate change and increasing water temperatures, such as IWR reported.
Challenges from environmental phenomena
Coastal systems, such as the Gravelines nuclear power plant, are particularly susceptible to environmental phenomena that can suddenly occur. It was found that rising water temperatures lead to increased abolitions of nuclear power plants worldwide. Several reactors in France and Switzerland have had to be switched off or reduced in their performance in recent years due to heat waves and associated cooling problems. These problems are not new, but they could be increasingly due to global warming, what Daily show confirmed.
In Switzerland, for example, a reactor of the Beznau nuclear power plant was switched off due to warm river water, while the second reactor only works halfway. Such measures serve to protect the ecosystem and to comply with environmental law requirements. Also in the French nuclear power plant Golfech, the performance was throttled due to extreme heat to prevent the Garonne river from overheating.
Future of nuclear energy in France
The numerous maintenance work in French nuclear power plants increases, which can be attributed to the outdated inventory. France runs a total of 57 nuclear reactors, and the challenges caused by heat waves could affect the future of nuclear energy within the country. In addition, the throttling or shutdown of nuclear power plants has led to an average reduction in annual electricity production by 0.3 percent in recent years. According to the EDF, the operator of the GRAVELINES, the shutdowns have no effect on the safety of the systems, staff or the environment, and technicians are already in the process of fixing the errors and preparing safe re -commissioning.
Overall, the current developments show that, despite their potential for electricity generation, nuclear power plants are facing major challenges due to environmental changes. The combination of climate change, outdated infrastructure and sudden environmental phenomena could seriously influence the role of nuclear energy in the country's energy supply in the future.