Nuclear power : Stopped working when the reactor got too hot

 

Hot weather - then the reactor suddenly stopped working French village where the school buses are financed by the nuclear company and the villagers receive iodine tablets

 

Of: 

 

Wolfgang Hansson 

 

Last updated: Today 11.18 

 

Thick, white smoke comes out of one of the nuclear power plant's cooling towers. From the second nothing comes. The reactor is shut down for rust maintenance. 

 

A hot summer knocked out the cooling system on the second reactor. 

 

France is an example of how even nuclear power is no longer really reliable. 

 

GOLFECH, FRANCE. The cooling towers are the tallest in France, 190 meters. From afar, as we drive into the city, it looks like they are standing next to each other. But when we get close to the giant facility, they turn out to be at least 500 meters apart. 

 

Between them are two reactor buildings with rounded cement roofs and a narrow, low tower next to them. Right next to it, the river Garonne flows quietly by. 

 

The river is used for the nuclear power plant's cooling plant. But this summer the water was over 30 degrees. More than two degrees above the maximum permitted limit of 28 degrees. 

 

The consequence was that one of the reactors had to greatly reduce its energy production. From 1.3 gigawatts to 300 megawatts. 

 

The one reactor building in Golfech. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

 

In practice, the entire nuclear power plant was almost shut down as the second of the two reactors was shut down for maintenance. This at the same time as France experienced one of its hottest summers in living memory. 

 

In the big city of Toulouse, an hour's drive to the east, 40 degrees were measured day after day for a period. The air conditioning went to high pressure at the residents' homes at the same time as the nuclear power plant in Golfech delivered almost no power. 

 

- This summer's events are proof that nuclear power is not as reliable and predictable as everyone wants to claim, says environmental activist Renet Douvenat when we meet at a café in Toulouse.

Environmental activist Renet Douvenat does not like nuclear power plants, but rather sees France building out wind or solar power. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

 

- Right now, roughly half of France's nuclear power plants are idle. The reason is that during the covid pandemic, all maintenance was postponed. Now a number of defects have been discovered which are the result of delayed maintenance. 

 

Douvenat has prepared for the interview by writing down a number of points in a pad next to the smallest coffee cup I've ever seen. 

 

One of the points is that it is mainly about rust problems in the nuclear power plants that are difficult to remedy. 

 

- At the beginning of the summer, the government claimed that the nuclear power plants would only be shut down for four months, says Douvenat. Now the repairs turn out to take considerably longer than that. Minimum six months. This means that many of the reactors will not be in operation during the winter when they are needed most. 

 

Instead, France is forced to import expensive electricity from abroad. The country which until last spring was Europe's largest exporter of electricity. A role that Sweden has now occasionally taken over. 

 

As a green politician, he is not very fond of nuclear power at all and now he and other nuclear power opponents have received new, strong arguments as to why France should invest much more in expanding renewable energy sources instead of, as President Macron has decided to invest in building six new nuclear power plants plus a number of smaller reactors known as SMRs. 

 

Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

 

 

Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

 

France is the country in Europe that invested the most in nuclear power. There are around 70 reactors spread across the country. 

But most of them were built in the 1980s and 1990s. They are getting old and require more and more maintenance to continue to operate. 

 

- Building new reactors will take at least ten years, maybe 20, claims Douvenat and ticks off yet another item on his list. 

 

- We don't have that much time. In ten years, we cannot emit more carbon dioxide if we are to meet the climate goals. The only thing that can save us is a strong expansion of solar and wind power and a development of battery technology. 

 

Today, France has only one offshore wind farm. It has just been inaugurated and will reach full capacity only after the turn of the year. Otherwise, wind power is poorly developed compared to, for example, Germany and Sweden. 

 

Today, nuclear power accounts for 70 percent of France's electricity production 

 

We drive long distances in the south of France but see very few wind turbines compared to when we visited Germany last week. 

 

The reason Douvenat states is that all the parties on the right in French politics want to completely stop wind power development because it is considered ugly to the landscape. 

 

When we talk a little more, it turns out that even the environmental activist is doubtful about wind power, but for a different reason. 

- Wind power kills a lot of birds and is a threat to bird species, he says. Therefore, I think solar power is a better solution. 

 

Douvenat cites a number of scenarios made by the environmental group Negawatt which claim that France can manage completely without nuclear power in ten years if solar and wind power are expanded significantly and at the same time invest in energy efficiency and energy saving. 

 

- We have to change the way we live and consume, he says. 

 

But the question is how realistic these calculations are. Today, nuclear power accounts for 70 percent of France's electricity production. Solar and wind power together do not even reach ten percent. 

 

 - We are the only country in Western Europe that has not fulfilled our promises in the Paris Agreement on investment in fossil-free energy, claims Douvenat. 

 

 

Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

 

But ordinary French people seem to listen more to President Macron than to the environmental movement. The Greens lost heavily in the election earlier this year, despite the fact that the climate issue is so hot. 

 

The residents we speak to in the small community of Golfech, which is located next to the nuclear power plant, see nuclear power as a very reliable source of energy. 

 

Pierre Derycke, 42, is sitting at the outdoor terrace with a cup of coffee and a screwdriver that he was allowed to borrow from the owner. 

 

- I prefer nuclear power to renewable energy sources, he says with his sunglasses tucked inside his beige shirt. 

 

Adil Kharbousch and Pierre Derycke sit at an outdoor restaurant in Golfech. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

 

- It creates many jobs and means that we don't have to rely on importing energy from other countries. Solar and wind power are not nearly as reliable. 

 

He is not worried about a reactor accident. 

 

- Those of us who live here have been given iodine tablets to take in the unlikely event of a spill. If there is an accident à la Chernobyl, it doesn't matter if I, who now live two kilometers from the nuclear power plant, or ten miles away. Then it's done in any case. 

 

However, he is extremely worried about the winter's electricity bills. 

 

- Right now we have a price ceiling on electricity, but it will gradually be phased out. Therefore, it is difficult to know how expensive it will be this winter. Macron intends to pass a law that prohibits everyone from having more than 19 degrees indoors. So it comes down to putting on a sweater and long underpants this winter. 

 

He laughs a little at this normally unlikely situation. 

 

- Putin is hoping for a cold winter. Then it will be easier to divide Europe. 

 

Friend Adil Kharbousch, 41, who smokes thin cigarillos turns out to work as a mechanic at the nuclear power plant. He thinks that the summer's problems with the cooling water have been exaggerated. 

 

- We have had similar problems with excessively high temperatures in the Garonne river for ten years, although not as serious as last summer, he says. Now that reactor is running at full capacity again because the water temperature has dropped.

 

 

Adil Kharbousch. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

However, he believes that the reactor that is being maintained will be shut down longer than what is officially said. 

 

- I don't think it will start in January, but March-April at the earliest. Maintenance always takes longer than they first thought. 

 

The nuclear power plant is located like a large colossus in an otherwise rural landscape with green hills and arable land. Goldfech is so small that wherever you go, the two cooling towers and the steam bubbling out of one of them dominate the cityscape. Along one street, it looks like one of the cooling towers is at the end, even though it's placed a good distance away on the other side of the river. 

Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

Caroline Holenstein, dressed in a green apron and working in the bakery, no longer thinks that the nuclear power plant is there. 

 

- It has been there as long as I have lived here, so for me it is a completely natural part of the cityscape, she says. I think nuclear power feels safe and good. 

 

Still, she feels a certain anxiety about winter. 

 

- We've heard that there may be blackouts and then we can't bake. However, I am not afraid that we will be forced to close. We simply have to adapt our way of working. 

 

She does not see it as realistic to replace nuclear power with any other energy source, despite the summer's shutdown. 

 

Caroline Holenstein is not worried that the bakery she works in will be forced to close this winter. "We simply have to adapt our way of working," she says. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

 

- In addition, we have a lot of advantages from the nuclear power plant. We get a discount on taxi journeys. The school buses are partly paid for by the nuclear company and the village is more lively thanks to grants given to various organisations. When the nuclear power plant was built, there were residents who were against it, but not anymore. 

 

In contrast to Sweden, waste does not seem to be a big issue. 

 

- Nothing that ordinary people worry about, says Rene Douvenat from The Greens. We have the waste facility in Le Hauge. In addition, a new place for long-term storage of the waste is being built 500 meters underground in a rock room. 

 

Then people are much more worried about the fires and the drought that hit the country this summer. Some areas were completely without drinking water. 

 

Douvenant thinks that France and the world should take the energy crisis as another warning about the climate. 

 

- We have to stop using so much energy. Saving, saving and energy efficiency is the only solution. We should realize what it means if warming becomes three percent because we do not reduce emissions. Today global warming is only one percent and yet we cannot deal with it. 

 

Not least this applies to French nuclear power. 

 

The risk is obvious that last summer's problems will be repeated next summer and beyond. There are indications that summer temperatures will continue to cause problems with cooling water, especially for nuclear power plants located on rivers. 

 

For those located by the sea, it is instead the expected sea cover that could threaten operations. 

 

Around the world, there are many who see nuclear power as a rescue from both the energy crisis and climate threats. 

 

The example of France shows that to some extent it can be a dangerous wishful thinking. 

 

 

Aftonbladet's photographer Jerker Ivarsson and reporter Wolfgang Hansson in France.

– Dessutom har vi en massa fördelar av kärn­kraft­verket. Vi får rabatt på taxi­resor. Skol­bussarna betalas delvis av kärn­kraft­bolaget och byn är mer livlig tack vare bidrag som ges till olika organisationer. När kärn­kraft­verket byggdes fanns det invånare som var emot men inte nu längre.

I motsats till i Sverige verkar avfallet inte vara någon stor fråga.

– Inget som vanligt folk oroar sig för, säger Rene Douvenat från De gröna. Vi har avfalls­anläggningen i Le Hauge. Dessutom byggs en ny plats för lång­tids­förvaring av av­fallet 500 meter ner i marken i berg­rum.

Då är folk betydligt mer oroade för de bränder och den torka som drabbade landet i somras. Vissa områden blev helt utan dricks­vatten.

Douvenant tycker att Frankrike och världen borde ta energi­krisen som ännu en varning om klimatet.

– Vi måste sluta förbruka så mycket energi. Sparande, sparande och energi­effektivisering är den enda lösningen. Vi borde inse vad det innebär om upp­värmningen blir tre procent för att vi inte får ner utsläppen. I dag är den globala upp­värmningen bara en procent och ändå kan vi inte hantera det.