The world is facing the problem of Jellyfish Swarms Closing Nuclear Power Stations

The events have emphasized that jellyfish swarms have been endangering the operations of nuclear power plants at an increasing rate. A number of reactors at France Gravelines Nuclear Power Station were turned off the other day after jellyfish blocked its cooling system. This occurrence falls in line with rising trend of key infrastructure affected by marine life. An insight into the causes and impacts of such disturbances is necessary to ensure energy security and environmental administration.

Fish Fights on Nuclear Power Plants

Massive quantities of saltwater also cool reactors used in nuclear power plants.  Through grated screens, intake pipes are used, and through those, the water is extracted, and the purpose of its use is to filter out aquatic life and trash. Millions of jellyfish are drawn to the blooms and swiftly congest these screens.  This blocks flow of water hence exposing boilers, condensers and turbines to risk of overheating.  To avoid damage, reactors will have to be turned off till the obstruction is eliminated.  The elimination of jellyfish can be time-consuming (as long as two days can be spent) and hazardous and complex.

Reasons to Prevent Rise in Jellyfish Incidents

A lot of environmental influences have contributed to rise number of shut downs that are attributed to jelly fish.  With global warming, higher temperatures reported in oceans lead to an increase in the number of planktons, the main source of food to the jellyfish.  Moreover, jellyfish nourish faster in the warmer water.  Due to the fact that overfishing destroys natural predators of jellyfish, such as tuna and sea turtles, the number of jellyfish grows uncontrollably.  Plastic waste also contributes to the growth of jellyfish by creating artificial breeding and low-oxygen environments near the shores.

Implications

Jellyfish blooms are threats to energy installations and the marine ecosystem.  The closure of power plants destroys the supply of power, and it causes economic losses.  The occurrences are increasingly on the rise, which reflects bigger issues with the health of the oceans involving pollution and climate change.  Such increased natural phenomena have become even more dangerous to nuclear reactors that are in coastal water channels.

Mitigation strategies

There should be new approaches to combating jellyfish disturbances.  The issue of clogging can be reduced through the use of better technologies in the screening of intake.  Plant shutdown anticipation can be accomplished by monitoring jellyfish proportions and looking at the forecast about the blossom.  Reducing pollution and overfishing can be considered as one method to limit the increase of jellies and recover the ecological balance in the ecosystem. To have long-term control of jellyfish, climate action is the need in order to combat ocean warming.

Jellyfish affecting nuclear power plants

• The jellyfishes occupy the salt water in the cooling reactors that leads to an overheating of the boilers, condensers and the turbines.
• Getting rid of jellyfish is long and dangerous.
• Jellyfish incidents are caused by environmental causes such as global warming, overfishing, and plastic waste.
• This is because jellyfish blooms endanger the marine ecosystems, energy plants, and installations leading to economic loss and closure of power plants.
• Greater jellyfish blooms speak of the ocean health problems such as climate change and pollution.
• New technologies such as enhanced intake screening, presensing shutdown of plants, tracking the proportions of jellyfish and decreasing pollution were among some of the new approaches.