A nuclear power plants: End with the carnival now from the re-entry!

It starts again: France has throttled the first nuclear power plants because the water of the rivers is too warm to cool the reactors. Due to the unusual heat, the Garonne, Gironde and Rhône, which deliver cooling water, have heated up to 28 ° C. The water from the power plants was removed would be much too hot for flora and fauna. Therefore, the state nuclear power plant operator Edf had to react.

EDF plays down the incident. There have been such throttles since 2000 that they have only reduced electricity production by 0.3 percent on average; There was also no blackout, i.e. no comprehensive power failure.

Well, see, will now say at nuclear power. But the very long -stretched statistics deceive. In the really hot years, the French were missing 5.5 billion kilowatt hours in 2003 and 1.7 billion in 2018. Because more than half of the reactors were defective or in revision, France was dependent on the help of the neighbors. Germany delivered a lot of green electricity.

The consequences of the heat are still very drastic elsewhere: at the stock market price. When EDF was now completing the Golfech nuclear power plant in the south of the country, the Germans who use a flexible electricity price had to occasionally expect up to 75 cents per kilowatt hour, according to the electricity provider Tibber – the German average tariff is 30 cents. Because stock market prices are also psychology, a message alone sometimes drives them up.

Relaxation is not in sight. In the meantime, the performance of the Blayai’s performance has also been reduced so that the mouth of the Gironde does not heat up too much. And for the Bueky nuclear power plant in the south, which is cooled by the Rhône, a throttling is in prospect. Switzerland is now also affected, it has reduced the performance of the Beznau nuclear power plant by 50 percent because the Aare is too warm.

Such heat flauts for nuclear power plants will increase, the climate researchers agree. This should be concerned about all concerns that always sing the song of nuclear power and demand the German re -entry. Climate change is progressing, you can no longer talk it away. The rivers are also so warm because the oceans no longer cool properly and thus cool the air less that strokes the mainland.

The EU has found extraordinary values ​​in the western Mediterranean and in southern France, especially as part of the Copernicus program. The water temperature is up to five degrees above the seasonal means. In June it is as warm as usual in July. And when the rain fails to fail and the water levels sink, the cooling water problem is exacerbated again. In Germany too, many rivers are far too warm.

The heat flaut of the nuclear power plant provides another urgent warning signal to accelerate the fight against global warming – with really renewable energy for electricity, heat and traffic. Nuclear power plants have long been part of our climate problem – and not its solution.