JELLYFISH INVASION CLOSES DOWN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN SWEDEN - IT HAS HAPPENED AT OTHER NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS TOO

The unintended consequences of building nuclear power plants next to the ocean

 

Over the weekend a large number of Aurelia aurita, or moon jellyfish, plugged the cooling water intake pipes at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant on the Baltic Sea coast, leaving the operator no choice but to disconnect the facility’s 1,400-megawatt Unit 3 from the grid.

 

The employees of the plant were battling the sea creatures till Tuesday, when a spokesman for the operator announced that the jellyfish had been removed and the reactor was being prepared for restart.

 

According to Osterberg, the jellyfish got into the pipes at about 18 meters below the sea surface, where the plant collects cold water to cool its reactor and turbine systems. 

 

Jellyfish clogs are recurring problem for nuclear power plants around the world, which are often placed next to large bodies of water.

 

In October 2008, the Diablo Canyon 2 reactor in California had to be shut down after jellyfish bottled the circulating water screens and caused a problem with water pressure, according to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission data.  

 

Another invasion by of Aurelia aurita into a cooling canal at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant in Florida caused a massive fish kill in August 2011, clogging the intake pipes with five tons of dead fish in the canal and triggering an unplanned shutdown.

 

Jellyfish shutdowns were also reported at nuclear facilities in Scotland, Israel and Japan, the Power magazine notes.According to National Geographic, the incidents may be one of the consequences of what the marine scientists warn is an ominous surge in the global jellyfish population.

 

The gelatinous creatures have fewer natural predators due to overfishing, while, unlike other aquatic species, they’re also able to withstand increasing levels of acidity in the oceans.   

Source - http://rt.com/news/jellyfish-nuclear-plant-shutdown-626/


RELATED

Jellyfish have the secret of immortality.  Some members of the species can at any stage of their development transform themselves back to a polyp, the organism's earliest stage of life, thus starting their life cycle all over again.

 http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/05/environmental-news-jellyfish-invasion.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jellyfish could take over the oceans
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/06/environment-news-jellyfish-could-take.html

*****************************************************************************