Jellyfish are behind concerning and curious news coming out of France about "complications" at one of the world's largest nuclear plants.
The BBC reported that a swarm of the gelatinous sea creatures entered filters in the pumping station at the Paluel plant, causing nearly half of its capacity to be temporarily shut down. A "massive and unpredictable" swarm caused a similar problem at another one of the country's nuclear facilities.
France's national energy firm, EDF, said in a statement that it carried "out the necessary diagnostics and interventions" following the predicament. Nuclear power generates nearly 70% of France's electricity with 56 reactors. That's second only to 94 in the United States, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
The swarm highlights the perils of nuclear energy. While the BBC didn't include a mention of meltdown risks, any complication is a concern. Nuclear disasters can be catastrophic and have repercussions that last for decades. That being said, they are rare, and radioactive waste is manageable, according to North Carolina State University associate professor Robert Hayes.
"The U.S. should seriously seek to drastically expand its replacement of fossil fuels with nuclear energy to address both climate change and energy security," the expert wrote in research published by ScienceDirect.
Proponents cite air-pollution-free nuclear energy as an answer to increasing power demand for data centers and artificial intelligence. That's why Microsoft is working to reopen a portion of the infamous Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania. It's the site of a 1979 nuclear disaster, and the move has drawn high-profile criticism.
By offsetting the use of power generated by dirty fuels, nuclear energy could help to expedite the transition to a cleaner, healthier future. Heat-trapping air pollution is linked by the World Health Organization to a range of medical risks to vital organs, including the lungs and heart.
Unique innovations, such as small, portable reactors that can even power ships, are among projects in the works to increase nuclear use.
But physicist Amory Lovins, from Colorado clean-energy thinktank RMI, told The Cool Down that renewable solar and wind are cheaper and faster to develop for grid-level storage.
Home-based solar panels are also outside the reach of pesky jellyfish. In France, experts were working to get Paluel back up to full capacity as they tried to keep the marine species at bay.
Fortunately, the "arrival of jellyfish" happened in a "non-nuclear" part of the plant, per the BBC.