Climate Change Could Make Nuclear Power Plants Useless
Nuclear energy has a hidden Achilles heel.
Nuclear power is incredible when you think about it. We can harness the power of atomic degradation and utilise Einstein’s theory of special relativity (E=MC²) to create powerful on-demand low carbon energy. Such technology has the potential to halt our rampant fossil fuel consumption and negate the horrific effects of climate change. However, recent heatwaves have highlighted a significant problem with our current reactors that will only get worse as climate change escalates and could even make some nuclear reactors useless in the future. So what is this Achilles heel? Is nuclear power doomed? Or can we solve this issue?
France recently had to curtail six of its nuclear reactors. One such example is the Golfech nuclear power plant, which had to reduce output by 1000 MW. To give some context on those numbers, that is the same amount of energy used to power 2,000 homes. This widespread problem left the French national energy grid in turmoil, especially given the entirety of Europe is in an energy crisis at the moment. But what caused this issue?
It may seem a little silly, but the culprit was the intense heatwave that recently swept across Europe and the UK. That’s right, all it took was some abnormally hot weather to kneecap these…
