Jellyfish makes the nuclear plant shut down

The recent giant of jellyfish makes one of Sweden's largest nuclear power plants shut down.

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The operator of the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in south-eastern Sweden on September 30 must shut down reactor No. 3, after tons of jellyfish, known as moon jellyfish, clog cool water pipes into the boats bin of the factory.

The moon jellyfish makes the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden stop working.(Photo: News.com.au)

The pipes are no longer jellyfish and engineers are preparing to restart the reactor. With an output of 1,400 Megawatt, this is the world's largest boiling water reactor, AAP quoted the OKG operator as saying.

All three of Oskharshamn's reactors are boiling water reactors, the same technology as Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant. The Japanese factory was badly damaged in 2011, after a tsunami broke through the wall and flooded the equipment.

Jellyfish is not a new threat to nuclear plants. Last year, Diablo Canyon facility in California, USA, also closed the No. 2 reactor, after a large number of seaweed, a jellyfish-like species, jammed the duct. In 2005, Oskarshamn's first unit also temporarily shut down due to a sudden influx of jellyfish.

Nuclear power plants need continuous flow of water to cool the reactor and the turbine system. That's why many factories are built near many countries.