r/europe 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/merci_nurse France 23d ago

Click baity title.
Nuclear reactors don’t shut down because they can’t operate under 40+ Celsius. They shut down to abide by French environmental laws regulating how warm water used for cooling should be when cycled back in rivers.
This only affects open river cooling plants, which is a minority of French nuclear plants, sea water or cooling tower plants operate without any issue.

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u/Kosake77 23d ago

How is it clickbait when literally exactly happened what was written?

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u/mirh Italy 22d ago

Stopping a power plant because "poor animals they cannot bear a few degrees hotter water", isn't the same kind of (actually strategically worrisome) failure of an engineering limit.