4 French nuclear reactors authorized to discharge hotter water during heatwave, as 29 others remain offline
Heat wave: a fourth nuclear power plant authorized to release hotter water than normal to continue operating. Twenty-nine French reactors out of 56 are currently unavailable for various reasons. Hence these exemptions.
A temporary derogation from environmental rules has been granted to a new nuclear power plant, that of Bugey, in Ain, to allow it to continue to operate “at a minimum level of power” during the heat wave, according to a decree published on Sunday July 17. in the Official Journal .
“The reactors of the Bugey nuclear power plant discharging effluents into the Rhône may, during the fixed period (…), continue to practice these discharges as long as the heating after mixing of the effluents into the Rhône (.. .) does not exceed 3 ° C in average daily value” , specifies the decree of Sunday.
On Friday, a derogation had been granted to the nuclear power plants of Golfech (Tarn-et-Garonne), Blayais (Gironde) and Saint-Alban (Isère). For these three power stations and that of Bugey, the
authorization was granted until July 24th.
And this, while 29 French reactors out of 56 are currently unavailable for various reasons. Since
2006, each plant has had its own regulatory water discharge temperature limits that must not be exceeded. The power plants indeed pump water to cool the reactors, before rejecting it. The derogation device, which aims to guarantee the proper functioning of the electricity network, had so far only been used once, in 2018 for the Golfech power plant, for a period of 36 hours.
France Info 17th July 2022
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