Jellyfish swarm temporarily shuts down France's largest nuclear plant

A swarm of jellyfish forced the temporary shutdown of the Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France on Sunday night and Monday morning. According to EDF, the plant's operator, four of the six reactors were automatically shut down after jellyfish clogged the pumps used to cool the reactors. The other two units were already offline for maintenance, resulting in a complete plant shutdown.

EDF assured the public that the incident had no impact on safety for the facilities, personnel, or environment. Plant teams are currently working on diagnostics and interventions to restart operations safely.

Gravelines is the largest nuclear plant in Western Europe, with six reactors each producing 900 MW. Two next-generation 1,600 MW reactors are planned to be operational by 2040.