Dozens of nuclear reactors in France had been through some troubling outages. The cause is believed to be represented by stress-induced pipe corrosion. The reactors remain offline, as The Wall Street Journal reveals.
The authorities are currently working to solve the issues of the reactors, but their struggle is taking longer than anticipated. Furthermore, there is a real risk that parts of France will remain without electricity. The pipe problems have their origin in the event that happened in late 2021 – a crack was detected in a high-pressure pipe that is close to the core of the reactor at one of the power plants.
Winter is coming
With the winter season coming in Europe, it’s obvious that France needs its nuclear reactors in perfect shape as soon as possible. A number of 26 out of 56 nuclear reactors from France remain offline. Over 65 million people live in the famous European country in 2022. It is expected that the restart of the nuclear reactors will be delayed for six weeks.
A note coming from the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety of France, states, as WSJ quotes:
It is only possible to identify [stress corrosion’s] presence once cracking has begun, Regular inspections of the pipes can only identify the phenomenon once a fault is present.
Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and the growing tensions between the West and Russia, Vladimir Putin decided to stop providing natural gas to Europe. The decision caused a huge energy crisis in the old continent – one that hadn’t been seen for about 50 years.
At least in the case of the USA, nuclear energy represents the most reliable source of energy. In more than 92% of the time back in 2021, nuclear power plants operated at full capacity in the USA.
