Swiss nuclear plant shut down due to heatwave

Beznau nuclear power plant, the first power plant in Switzerland. (Axpo)

GENEVA - The reactors at Europe’s oldest nuclear plant were shut down Friday, its Swiss operator said, after the heatwave roasting Europe sent temperatures soaring in the river used for cooling.

“The temperature of the Aare River reached 25 C again yesterday and today. Sufficient cooling is not in sight,” energy company Axpo said on its website.

As a consequence, the Beznau nuclear plant in northern Switzerland, near the German border, “has temporarily shut down both reactors,” it said.

Axpo said it was “continuing to monitor the Aare’s temperature.”

“Once the river cools down or sufficient cooling is forecast, (Beznau) can plan to restart its reactors,” it said, adding that the restart would take place after relevant authorities give the green light.

The announcement came as a deadly heatwave choked 150 million people across western Europe with temperatures above 35 C.

On Friday, Switzerland beat its June heat record for the second day running, measuring a temperature of 38.8 C in Basel, not far from Beznau, a day after measuring 38 C at the same station and crushing a record that had stood for nearly 80 years.

France’s main energy provider also shut down two nuclear reactors on Thursday as an environmental protection measure to avoid discharging too much hot water into already warming rivers.

Nuclear energy accounts for just over a third of Switzerland’s electricity production.

The country has four ageing nuclear reactors, including the two at Beznau.

Reactor 1 was first brought online in 1969, and Reactor 2 in 1971, making it one of the oldest nuclear plants in the world.