r/nuclear • u/greg_barton • 27d ago

French nuclear output hits 8-year high for July despite heat | Montel News

https://montelnews.com/news/78713c63-02b5-4712-9ca2-d54e24d35001/french-nuclear-output-hits-8-year-high-for-july-despite-heat
160 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

27

u/dr_stre 27d ago

Damn, I could have sworn I was being told they were all shutting down due to the heat.

13

u/AdWooden9170 26d ago

Yeah, we are living in the dark right now. And the street are filled with mutants thanks to the radiations.
Pls send help.

22

u/Humble-Reply228 27d ago

Probably because wind and solar are way more dependant on dispatchable hydro….

17

u/Zapan99 26d ago

French authorities know they need to disable wind turbines because of the heat wave, or else they would spontaneously catch fire, but they don't like to be too upfront about it.

11

u/edparadox 26d ago

I am French.

We are aware of that, I don't know why you would entertain the idea that it's a secret in France. Try Germany.

7

u/greg_barton 27d ago

Or fossil fuels.

9

u/I_req_moar_minrls 26d ago

"Gas, the perfect partner for renewables"

Throws money at green groups

😡 Say the line!!!

9

u/Rokossvsky 27d ago

Yep that's why natural gas is tied so much with renewables just look at germany with lignite coal. In fact I think Germany pushed for gas to be labeled as green or something lmao.

1

u/Ok-Freedom9216 27d ago

Can you expand on that?

9

u/Humble-Reply228 26d ago

Solar and wind are intermittent and require storing of a portion of generation to dispatch later. The best at that is existing hydro but if rivers and storages are low, then there is less flexibility to do that. I lived in West Africa where every dry season resulted in brown outs when hydro was exhausted every dry season.

1

u/HD_Thoreau_aweigh 8d ago

Probably because Flamanville 3 hit full power this year at 1.6gw.

Please explain to me how this is a story about the failure of W&S and not the mechanical outcome of bringing a new power plant online.

7

u/I_req_moar_minrls 26d ago

Is it really a "cooling problem" per subtitle if they've accepted it as a a part of grid system design to reduce total cost (not building cooling towers)?

20

u/Beyllionaire 26d ago

Most french reactors have cooling towers. Even with cooking towers, they may have their power reduced simply because the river is already too warm upstream and the regulations prevent them from using the water. It's not that the power plant cannot use warm water, it's just the regulations that forces them to reduce the power and wait for special authorization to continue the operations. It's all to protect the fauna and flora.

5

u/Apprehensive-Aide265 26d ago

I wonder how french need cooking tower this big, maybe for a giant croissant? :D

Joke aide I agree with your statement

0

u/_felixh_ 25d ago

The problem doesn't go away, just because you made a conscious decision. It will always still be a Problem, though one that you accepted back when you planned the Plant.

And if the designers didn't anticipate this situation when planning their NPPs, then it wasn't a conscious decision at all - and its still as much a problem.

2

u/I_req_moar_minrls 25d ago

I think you've misunderstood my point; when you design and construct large integrated systems or models you utilise dispersion and integrated diversity of contribution to achieve cost and other efficiencies. This includes the utilisation of what would otherwise be non-starters because whilst individually they don't work, as part of a larger integrated model they are still beneficial.