Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2013-2014
STOCKHOLM — Can humans take a hint? It wasn’t an earthquake or tsunami, but a huge swarm of jellyfish that forced one of the world’s largest reactors to shut down, a phenomenon that is becoming more and more common. Operators of the Oskarshamn nuclear power station on the Baltic Sea in southeastern Sweden — one of three in operation in the country — had to close down reactor 3 on Sept. 29, when tons of jellyfish clogged cooling water intake pipes. At 1,400 megawatts, reactor 3 is the largest boiling-water unit in the world, according to Anders Osterberg, a spokesman for OKG, the reactor operator. In 2005, reactor 1 at Oskarshamn was temporarily shut down after a similar inundation of jellyfish. Last year Diablo Canyon in California also had to shut its reactor No. 2 after gobs of sea salp — a jellyfish-like organism — clogged its cooling water intake pipes. — Arizona Republic, Oct. 2; and Australia’s News.com.au, Oct. 1, 2013
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