France's state-owned energy group EDF temporarily shut down three nuclear reactors on Sunday, while warning that seven others may need to adjust their power output as the heatwave sweeping the country continues, Euronews reports.
According to the company, the measure is an environmental protection requirement to avoid discharging excessively hot water into rivers already warming because of the heatwave.
Nuclear power plants use river water to cool their reactors before releasing the warmed water back into rivers.
"There is no nuclear safety risk. Reactors are capable of operating under high-temperature conditions. These limits are intended to protect aquatic flora and fauna," said a spokesperson for EDF.
EDF said that three nuclear reactors are currently offline: Unit 2 at Golfech (1,300 MW), Unit 3 at Bugey (900 MW) and Unit 2 at Chooz (1,450 MW). The three offline reactors alone account for 3.65GW of capacity, equivalent to about 6% of France's roughly 61GW installed nuclear fleet.
When asked about the missing capacity, EDF said nuclear reactors are able to optimise generation while remaining within regulatory limits.
Based on the latest weather forecasts, Bugey Unit 3 is currently scheduled to remain offline until 19 July, Golfech Unit 2 until 22 July and Chooz Unit 2 until 25 July.
The scheduling and duration of these environmentally driven reactor outages will be adjusted according to changes in weather forecasts.
"Seven other nuclear reactors may be required to adapt their power output, which fluctuates throughout the day," said the spokesperson for EDF.
