Europe’s drought is shutting down nuclear reactors
Nuclear reactors need water. They sit beside rivers and coastlines for a reason. The water carries heat away from the core. When it runs low or runs warm, the reactor has to power down.
That is happening across Europe right now. On Thursday, Romania’s state-owned Nuclearelectrica began disconnecting the country’s sole operating reactor, CNBC reported. The Danube is too low to cool it.
Romania had already tried a great deal to avoid that. It dredged the channel and sank rock-filled barges. Its navy detonated a controlled underwater explosion on the riverbed on 3 August. The aim was to push more water towards the cooling system at Cernavoda.
Cernavoda is the country’s only nuclear plant. Its two reactors normally supply about a fifth of Romania’s electricity.
France lost three reactors to jellyfish
The pattern repeats across the continent, and the causes are not identical. In Hungary, rain lifted the Danube...
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