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Extreme Heat Shuts Down some Nuclear Reactors in Europe - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
- In early July 2025, an intense heatwave caused elevated river temperatures in France and Switzerland, leading nuclear plants to halt operations at some reactors and scale back energy production to comply with cooling water regulations.
- Rising river temperatures, surpassing limits like 25°C at Switzerland’s Beznau plant and 28°C at France’s Golfech plant, triggered these operational curtailments to protect ecosystems and comply with regulations.
- Axpo reduced Beznau’s reactor output to 50 percent and shut down one unit, while EDF shut down Golfech, with no widespread blackouts reported despite increased cooling demands across Europe.
- Axpo stated it prevents excessive river warming to protect local flora and fauna, and France’s reliance on nuclear power—about two-thirds of electricity—highlights energy system vulnerability to climate-driven heat stress.
- The heatwave’s effects underscore the need for resilient energy infrastructure and adaptation, as extreme temperatures and cooling water limits increasingly challenge nuclear power generation in Europe.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Heatwave shuts down nuclear plants in Europe
By summer 2025, temperatures across Europe soared so high that two nuclear plants — one in France, the other in Switzerland — had to shut down. Not due to any technical glitch or water shortage, but simply because their cooling rivers were too warm to use safely. It sounds strange — almost backwards — but yes, a power plant can overheat when the river meant to cool it gets too hot itself. Source
Heatwave forces shut France, Swiss nuclear plants - The Tribune
To cool down, nuclear power plants pump water from local rivers or the sea, which they then release back into water bodies at a higher temperature. However, this process can threaten local biodiversity if water is released which is too hot.
Climate change is increasingly affecting traditional supply chains in both the energy sector and industry as a whole.
During a heat wave, several French nuclear power plants may be forced to reduce their production, or even, sometimes, to stop. A constraint related not to the safety of the installations, but to the temperature of the streams used to cool them. Global warming, by reducing the flows and heating the rivers, forced them to modulate their production. At the end of June 2025, EDF shut down reactor No. 1 of the Golfech nuclear power plant (Tarn-et-Gar…
Each summer, when the thermometers exceed a certain threshold during episodes of high heats, such as the one that struck the south of the continent earlier this week, nuclear power stations are forced to be shut down because of too high a temperature of water. In most cases, these stops are dictated by too high a temperature of water taken from rivers, rivers, or from the sea to cool reactors and fuel storage pools. In some cases, as we have see…
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