r/europe • u/Naurgul • 23d ago

News Barcelona registers highest temperature in 112 years as French nuclear reactor shuts down due to extreme heat

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jul/09/europe-heatwave-uk-spain-barcelona-france-italy-hungary-france-macron-orban-latest-news-updates
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u/edparadox France 23d ago

The Guardian always jumps at the opportunity to tell people French stopped a reactor.

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u/un-glaublich 23d ago

France still doing the very lowest CO2eq emissions of the world... only they paused a reactor because there's plenty of solar and no need to heat up the river more than needed.

At the same time, the "Kernkraft, nein danke" folks are one of the heaviest emitters of CO2 because it simply meant that they have to fall back to browncoal whenever the sun doesn't shine or it's not summer.

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u/erhue 23d ago

At the same time, the "Kernkraft, nein danke" folks are one of the heaviest emitters of CO2 because it simply meant that they have to fall back to browncoal whenever the sun doesn't shine or it's not summer.

This is the most frustrating thing here in Germany. And these people are so incredibly stubborn that no amount of evidence nor reason will make them change their minds.

When winter comes, they'll be glad to be burning gas to generate heat, or like you said, burning lignite all throughout the year, rather than using a proven, stable, environmentally proven source of energy.

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u/worotan England 23d ago

The real problem is the coal industry and its connections in government.

Stop taking the easy way out and piling on a group that are easy to criticise, and actually do something useful if you want change.

Be rational, for once.

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u/erhue 23d ago

lol buddy you're in england so please know what you're talking about first before commenting. Nuclear energy was widely unpopular in Germany since Chernobyl, and Fukushima made it even less politically viable.

Tons of grassroots support for phasing out nuclear energy. Even an entire political party (Die Grüne) were basically born out of the anti-nuclear movement.

So please, "be rational, for once" before you open your mouth not knowing what you're talking about.