A massive influx of jellyfish has forced Électricité de France to shut down three reactors at the Gravelines nuclear power station in northern France and reduce output on a fourth, the company said on Monday.
Reactors 2, 3 and 4 were taken offline entirely, while unit 1 was cut to 50 percent capacity. Only reactor 6 is running at full power, with unit 5 already offline for scheduled maintenance, leaving just one of the six reactors operating normally. The plant sits on the northern coast between Calais and Dunkirk. EDF said the incident posed no risk to plant safety, staff or the environment.
Gravelines has faced similar jellyfish incursions before. Last summer, a massive swarm forced four reactors offline, with the final unit taking roughly ten days to reconnect to the grid. The site also recorded a major jellyfish-related disruption in 1993. As of Sunday, 15.6 percent of France's nuclear capacity was unavailable, according to calculations based on EDF data.