nuclear-news

A Mob of Alien Creatures Just Took 4 Nuclear Reactors Completely Offline.

They found their way into the filter drums of the pumping station.

By Darren Orf, Aug 15, 2025 , https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a65775055/jellyfish-nuclear-shutdown/

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• A swarm of jellyfish shut down four of six nuclear reactors at the Gravelines power plant near Calais, France.
• The jellyfish found their way into the filter drums of the pumping station, causing a temporary shutdown over the weekend.
• Jellyfish swarms are increasing around the world as warmer oceans provide better spawning conditions and low-oxygen dead zones (caused largely by agricultural runoff) kill off aquatic competition.

Jellyfish are remarkable creatures. They’re twice as old as dinosaurs; they don’t have brains, lungs, or a heart; and they’ve nearly cracked the secret to immortality. But there’s another accolade that they can affix to their already impressive biological resumé—they’re the scourge of nuclear reactors.

This fact was proven this past Sunday, when three of the six reactors at Gravelines power plant near Calais in northern France shut down unexpectedly because a swarm of jellyfish had entered the plant’s cooling system, according to the government-owned utility operator Électricité de France, or EDF. y Monday morning, a fourth reactor also temporarily shut down.

August 16, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment