See online: Climate: the nuclear industry is stunned https://www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org/spip.php?article427 ---- Climate: the nuclear industry is stunned ---- While its promoters still claim that nuclear power is a reliable way to produce electricity, events clearly demonstrate that this is not, or is no longer, the case. ---- Thus, in this summer of 2026, which is unanimously described as scorching but which will soon be considered as in fact very ordinary, various nuclearized countries are forced to reduce the power of their nuclear reactors or even to shut them down.
It is therefore not at all anecdotal to note that three reactors at the Gravelines nuclear power plant (Nord) had to be stopped urgently on August 11 due to the suction, in the cooling circuits, of thousands of jellyfish.
Indeed, these unfortunate organisms - mercilessly crushed by EDF - multiply under the effect of ocean warming: this event, which had already occurred in the same place exactly one year earlier, is therefore likely to occur more and more often.
Moreover, under the effect of heat, the water of various rivers and streams - Danube, Rhône, Meuse, Moselle, Garonne, etc. - is too hot or its flow is too low to be able to properly cool the reactors.
Sometimes it is "only" a matter of respecting environmental standards because, as few people know, nuclear power plants release massive quantities of chemicals and radioactive materials into rivers and oceans, all in heated water that threatens wildlife and flora.
All these highly polluting products - while nuclear power is often presented as a "clean" energy! - are diluted less the lower the flow rate.
The safety authorities, starting with the very lenient French ASNR, grant operators all the exemptions they demand, but when water is or will be lacking, even the most accommodating decrees will be ineffective.
We also advise people to closely monitor the Loire River's flow, which in some places has been reduced to a trickle. Four power plants-Belleville, Dampierre, Saint-Laurent, and Chinon-are at risk of closure. EDF executives are praying for miraculous rainfall, but even if it happens this year, such a miracle won't be repeated every year.
The truth is that climate change is irrevocably condemning the operation of the 38 French reactors located on riverbanks. As for the other 19, situated on the coast or in estuaries, they are increasingly threatened by the risk of submersion as sea levels rise due to global warming.
We already had a small glimpse of it on the night of December 27-28, 1999 when the Blayais nuclear power plant in Gironde was severely flooded and narrowly avoided, twelve years in advance, the dramatic scenario that occurred in 2011 in Fukushima (Japan).
Yet, although totally discredited and on its last legs, the Macron government is attempting, with the complicity of EDF's management, to make the launch of a new reactor program irreversible: the famous EPR2s, almost identical to the EPR that EDF still cannot get working at Flamanville... even though this was theoretically supposed to be the case from 2012!
The problem is not only EDF's inability - demonstrated on several construction sites in France and England - to build its own reactors, and the unjustifiable financing of these projects by the deliberate "theft" of money from the Livret A savings account, which was intended for social housing.
The problem is that, if by some extraordinary chance EDF finds the instructions and manages to build the reactors correctly, they will not start operating until the 2040s and 2050s.
Will Messrs. Macron, Lecornu and Fontana (the CEO of EDF) explain to the people who are now dying of heat every summer that the situation could improve in 25 or 30 years?
Everyone knows that action must be taken immediately, since it has not been done for many years despite the numerous warnings issued by anti-nuclear activists and other environmentalists who are now accused of all evils... for the simple reason that they announced and denounced them first!
Instead of once again capturing tens or even hundreds of billions to offer to the nuclear industry, political leaders must immediately launch plans for the development of renewable energies (without deforesting to install solar parks!), adaptation to climate change and above all, a major omission in the speeches and actions of most politicians, sobriety.
We do not have the space here - another forum will be needed - to explain why Macron's headlong rush towards "all electric" is a heresy that can only lead to a new dead end, especially when it comes to bringing in data centers that will need to be massively and continuously powered... instead of meeting the vital needs of the population.
In recent years, we have observed announcements of nuclear reactor construction in various countries around the world. It seems that, for most presidents, kings, leaders, and especially dictators, talking about nuclear power still confers a certain prestige.
But fortunately, the reality is quite different: almost all of these announcements have no effect, and, as publicly available data recognized by international agencies shows, the share of nuclear power in global electricity production has fallen from 17.1% in 2001 to 8.85% in 2025: this is not a decrease but a veritable collapse, which continues inexorably year after year. Meanwhile, the share of renewable energies is approaching 40% and is increasing exponentially.
It is therefore high time to cancel all nuclear projects, starting with the French EPR2 program, and instead of remaining stunned, to focus on adapting to the scorching climate that is already affecting us and awaits our descendants...
It is climate change that is undermining nuclear power, not the other way around.
Press release from the "Stop Nuclear Power " Collective, August 11, 2026
-The successive heat waves show that nuclear power plants have no future in a world that is constantly warming
The lenient exemptions granted to EDF by the Safety Authority are ineffective when there is no longer enough water in the rivers.
The project to build new reactors (the EPR2s) must be abandoned and the money redirected towards alternatives
Water shortages: nuclear power plants are being overwhelmed by global warming
After Western Europe (particularly France, Belgium, and Switzerland), which was affected as early as the end of July, it is now Central Europe's turn-Hungary, Romania, etc.-to have to shut down nuclear power plants due to the heatwave. In fact, all the world's nuclear power plants are now, or will soon be, rendered unusable by climate change.
In France, since the heatwave of summer 2003, the so-called "Authorities" of so-called nuclear "safety" have surrendered and granted all the exemptions demanded by EDF to operate the power plants while flouting the rules for the protection of fauna and flora.
But no exemption or decree can prevent the shutdown of power plants when water runs low in the rivers, as is now the case. The usual accusations against "anti-nuclear activists" or "environmentalists," who supposedly sabotage the nuclear industry with environmental regulations, fall apart on their own.
The truth is that it is climate change that is attacking nuclear power and not the other way around, contrary to what the main industrial, political and media leaders have been claiming for years.
Furthermore, the Stop Nuclear Power Collective points out that nuclear power plants continuously release immense quantities of chemical and radioactive materials into rivers and oceans, contradicting the propaganda claiming that nuclear power is a "clean" energy source. The fact is that, during periods of heatwaves and very low water flow, all these substances are even less diluted than usual and cause even greater harm to wildlife and vegetation.
It is indeed senseless to want to launch the construction of new nuclear reactors, as the crumbling Macron regime intends to do just before its demise. Certainly, it is always possible to locate these construction sites by the sea to ensure a water supply... but it is then the phenomenon of flooding that dooms nuclear power: if these plants are unfortunately built, they will begin operating at the earliest in the 2040s, or even 2050s: by then, sea levels will have risen significantly.
The Stop Nuclear Collective calls on all citizens to preserve the future of current and future generations: the billions planned once again for nuclear power must be cancelled and immediately redirected towards renewable energies and, above all, towards plans for energy sobriety and adaptation to climate change.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4760
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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