A massive wave of jellyfish has shut down one of the world’s largest nuclear reactors, located in southeastern Sweden, and marine biologists are warning of more of the same.
The jellyfish clogged the pipes at the Oskarshamn nuclear plant, NBC reported. Engineers were forced to shut down operations, or else face the effects of overheating.
The plant provides 1,400 megawatts of output and is the largest boiling-water reactor around the world, said Anders Osterberg, a spokesman for the company that operates the plant, in an NBC report.
Jellyfish aren’t exactly a new dilemma for nuclear plants. A California plant had to shutter operations temporarily in 2012 after jellyfish-like organisms, called sea salp, clogged pipes. But the problem is growing and only promises to worsen over time.
“It’s true that there seems to be more and more of these extreme cases of blooming jellyfish,” said Lene Moller, a researcher at the Swedish Institute for the Marine Environment, NBC reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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