It is difficult not to notice the anomalous wave of heat that is hitting the Mediterranean in these days. Just look at the maps of the globe, where our sea stands out of a more intense dark red than any other mirror of water. And if with us the temperatures are already those of the hottest months of the summer, it is along the Spanish and French coasts that are really hot. So high, to have forced Électricité de France (EDF), the main French atomic energy manufacturer, to warn that in the next few days it may be forced to turn off the reactors, if the temperatures of the rivers waters in the south of the country will continue to rise.
In absolute terms, the temperatures reached these days by the Mediterranean waters mark a new negative record. We are talking about values even more than four or five degrees compared to the standard, which until twenty years ago were reserved for the hottest days of summer, in mid -August. The fault lies again with an anticyclone of subtropical matrix, which is blocking the circulation of winds, thus contributing to the heating of the surface waters of the sea.
However, it is not new, given that the trend in recent years is clear, and temperatures records continue to be overcome on a monthly basis. In all likelihood, therefore, the rest of the summer will not bring great surprises: the heat, in short, is here to stay. The risks should now be clear to everyone: the more the waters of the sea heat up, the more energy is stored, ready to feed temporal and other destructive phenomena with the arrival of the right weather conditions.
The forecasts for the next few days however confirm that we have not yet reached the peak of the current heat wave. Hence Edf’s announcement: if the temperatures in the south of France will exceed 38 degrees, the waters of the rivers will be likely to become too hot in order to be used for cooling nuclear reactors. And the only possibility at that point will be the shutdown, or the drastic reduction in power.
For now, the announcement of the French electricity company talks about the Blayais website, near Bordeaux, and potentially of other structures fueled by the Rhone and the Garonna. However, a problem should not be proved to be a problem for the country’s electrical supply, because even if it is true that nuclear power weighs for about 70 percent on the French energy mix, the summer months are also those in which consumption is minor, and are often used for the maintenance of the systems. If nothing else, however, shows that nobody – not even nuclear plants – is immune to the effects of climate change of these decades. And since in recent years it has been happening more and more often, it is not said that in the future the country should not be taken into account, given that the national energy strategy will continue to rely on nuclear power as a primary source even in the decades to come.