Jellyfish Invasions Force Nuclear Power Plants to Shut Down

Filed in Marine Biology on July 11, 2011 with no comments

Massive amounts of jellyfish have forced the shutdown of nuclear power plants in Japan, Scotland and Israel in the past few weeks.

Moon jelly. Photo credit: Dante Alighieri

Moon jelly. Photo credit: Dante Alighieri

All of these nuclear power plants use seawater to cool its reactors. Marine life is constantly being sucked in by the coolers, but now hundreds of jellyfish are invading the cooling systems causing the plants to be shut down.

The plants that have been shut down include the Orot Rabin Electric Power Station in Hadera on Israel’s west coast, the Torness power station on the south-east coast of Scotland and the Shimane plant in western Japan.

Jellyfish blooms are not uncommon in the summer but they have been an increasing concern for the ocean for quite some time. The sudden blooms can be due to warmer water temperatures, an increase in nutrients from fertilizers and overfishing.

To learn more about jellyfish overpopulation check out this story from MST.

Copyright ©  2011 by Marine Science Today, a publication of OceanLines LLC

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About the Author

Emily Tripp is the Publisher and Editor of MarineScienceToday.com. She holds marine science and biology degrees from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. She is also a PADI diver and dog lover.

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