Drought: EDF lowers the power of a nuclear reactor, because of the low flow of the Rhône – franceinfo

The French energy company took this decision to preserve the temperature of the river, which is suffering from drought. Article written by Published on 06/06/2022 21:04 Reading time: 1 min. This is one of the consequences of the drought that threatens France. EDF announced on Monday June 6 that it had to lower production at one of the nuclear reactors at its Saint-Alban power station (Isère) due to too low a flow rate from the Rhône. The power of one of the two 1,300 MW reactors at the plant (number 1) was reduced to 260 MW “for five hours” on Saturday and “punctual drops (…) were also made for a few hours “Sunday and Monday, the company’s press service told AFP. This decision was taken to “respect the regulations relating to thermal discharges due to the flow of the Rhône”. Nuclear reactors pump water into rivers or seas to cool them, and discharge heated water, discharges subject to temperature limits to preserve aquatic biodiversity. France is currently at risk of a severe drought, after a particularly hot and dry spring and before a likely equally hot and dry summer, according to Météo France. In April, the latest summary of the situation in the Rhône-Mediterranean hydrological basin from the Eau France information service noted that “the rainfall deficit recorded in recent months has led to overall deficit flows over the entire basin”. At the beginning of May, in the midst of an early heat wave, a similar power drop had been carried out for a few hours on a reactor at the Blayais power plant (Gironde), on the banks of the Garonne. Sometimes EDF reduces the power of its reactors – or even shuts them down – to preserve the temperature of the rivers, but these measures were usually taken during episodes of summer heat waves. EDF relativizes the scope, stressing that in France, production losses due to high watercourse temperatures have represented 0.3% of annual nuclear production since 2000. But at a time when President Emmanuel Macron intends to relaunch the sector, these events have been pointed out by the opponents of nuclear power, like Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who saw in them the questioning of the argument according to which nuclear energy would be more regular than renewables . Share: Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share by email Share link