EDF has halted four nuclear reactors at three power plants in France because of the current heatwave affecting Europe, a spokesman for the utility said on Saturday.
High temperatures registered in the Rhone and Rhine rivers, from which the three power plants pump their water for cooling, led to a temporary shutdown of the reactors, the spokesman said.
The Associated Press story at The Reading Eagle explains that excessive heat is harmful to fish.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @12:28AM
What we call "heat" is basically the average amount of kinetic energy the atoms that make up an object have. When objects are hot, they have more kinetic energy and move around more. For a gas to come out of a solution of water, the molecule has to have enough kinetic energy to break out of the solution. Therefore, when liquids are hot, it is more likely for the gas atoms and molecules to get enough energy to escape.