Swarm of jellyfish forces closure of nuclear power station
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Four reactors at EDF's Gravelines station were taken offline; diagnostics are underway to restart them. Photo / Sameer al-Doumy, AFP
A French nuclear power plant has been completely shut down after its systems were overwhelmed by a swarm of jellyfish.
Four of the reactors at EDF's Gravelines station were taken offline on Sunday and Monday after a 'massive and unpredictable presence' of the sea creatures in its cooling systems.
The French power company said no one had been injured after the arrival of the jellyfish in the filter drums of the site's pumping stations. Teams were carrying out diagnostics checks in an effort to restart the four units safely.
'These shutdowns resulted from the massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish in the filter drums of the pumping stations, located in the non-nuclear part of the facilities,' EDF said on its website.
'They had no impact on the safety of the facilities, the safety of personnel, or the environment.'
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Jellyfish lie on the shore near the Gravelines nuclear power plant in Gravelines, northern France, on August 12, 2025. Photo / Sameer Al-Doumy, AFP Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. Jellyfish lie on the shore near the Gravelines nuclear power plant in Gravelines, northern France, on August 12, 2025. Photo / Sameer Al-Doumy, AFP A nuclear power plant in northern France hit by a jellyfish invasion was getting back online on Wednesday, operator EDF said, with service restored at the first of four closed reactors. The Gravelines facility near Dunkirk on the French coast is the largest nuclear power plant in western Europe, with six 900 megawatt reactors. Four of its reactors were shut down on Sunday and Monday after a swarm of jellyfish clogged cooling pumps. 'Reactor No 6 restarted at 7:30am this morning,' an EDF spokeswoman told AFP, adding that work was still going on to bring three other reactors back online 'in the coming days'. The plant's two other units are offline for maintenance.
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Swarm of jellyfish forces closure of nuclear power station
Four reactors at EDF's Gravelines station were taken offline; diagnostics are underway to restart them. Photo / Sameer al-Doumy, AFP Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Four reactors at EDF's Gravelines station were taken offline; diagnostics are underway to restart them. Photo / Sameer al-Doumy, AFP A French nuclear power plant has been completely shut down after its systems were overwhelmed by a swarm of jellyfish. Four of the reactors at EDF's Gravelines station were taken offline on Sunday and Monday after a 'massive and unpredictable presence' of the sea creatures in its cooling systems. The French power company said no one had been injured after the arrival of the jellyfish in the filter drums of the site's pumping stations. Teams were carrying out diagnostics checks in an effort to restart the four units safely. 'These shutdowns resulted from the massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish in the filter drums of the pumping stations, located in the non-nuclear part of the facilities,' EDF said on its website. 'They had no impact on the safety of the facilities, the safety of personnel, or the environment.'
