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France’s electricity supply faces potential disruption as soaring river temperatures, driven by an impending heatwave, threaten to curtail nuclear power generation along the Rhone.
Nuclear operator EDF announced on Friday that high water temperatures are expected to impact electricity production from 25 June, particularly at the 3.6-gigawatt Bugey nuclear power plant in eastern France.
This marks the first such warning for high river temperatures in France for 2025.
The issue stems from environmental regulations governing the discharge of cooling water, which can be breached when river temperatures become excessively high due to heatwave conditions.
The alert comes as state forecaster Meteo France predicts a significant heatwave will sweep across the country this weekend.
Temperatures in southern France are anticipated to reach as high as 38 degrees Celsius (100.4F).
The 3.6 GW Cruas nuclear plant and the 2.6 GW Saint-Alban nuclear plant are down river of the Bugey plant but were not mentioned in the bulletin.
One of the 1.3 GW reactors at Saint-Alban and one of the reactors at Cruas are currently offline for maintenance.
EDF can often lower production at individual reactors rather than taking the whole nuclear plant offline, so if reactors are off for maintenance than the current operating reactors can be left unaffected.
Nuclear power accounts for about 70 per cent of total French power consumption annually.
The summer is usually maintenance season as demand is generally lower.
Climate change blamed for heatwave
Searing temperatures of 32C hitting the UK this week have been made 100 times more likely due to human-caused climate change, scientists have warned.
A rapid study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) research group found the current heatwave in the south-east of England was around 10 times more likely than without human activity warming the planet.
Dr Fredi Otto, from Imperial College London, underscored the severity, warning that heatwaves are "silent killers" and that the impacts of heat are "severely underestimated", leaving the UK unprepared for the conditions expected to persist into the weekend.
Japan has also been hit by a heatwave, with temperatures of up to 35C recorded and four people dying from suspected heatstroke.
