the State grants environmental exemptions to maintain the activity of five nuclear power plants

Derogations from the price of the environment? The nuclear power plants of Blayais, Saint-Alban-Saint-Maurice, Golfech, Bugey and Tricastin will benefit until September 11 from environmental exemptions concerning the temperatures of water discharge because of the high temperatures. With one downside: possible negative effects on the environment.

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A decree published on Saturday in the Official Journal fixes “new thermal discharge limits applicable to the reactors of the Bugey, Blayais, Saint-Alban-Saint-Maurice, Golfech and Tricastin nuclear power plants”, power plants, some of which had already benefited from derogations this summer. They are justified by the fact that“in the absence of temporary modification of the current thermal discharge limits, the operator should stop the operation of these nuclear power plants or reduce their production”.

Each plant obeys regulatory limits on the temperature of the water discharged so as not to heat up the surrounding waterways and to protect the fauna and flora. The power plants indeed pump water to cool the reactors, before rejecting it.

It is specified that the implementation of these measures will be “associated with a reinforced environmental monitoring program”, whereas these derogations are deemed necessary by the State. “Maintaining a minimum level of electricity production from nuclear power plant reactors (…) constitutes, with regard to the security of the electricity network, a public necessity”, can we read in the decree.

These derogations have caused environmental protection associations to react. “The Bugey nuclear power plant has just been authorized to discharge warmer water than usual. This will not help to improve biodiversity in the Rhône, which suffers from summer heat waves, like all courses French water”reacted on Twitter the NGO France Nature Environnement (FNE).