By Gavin Blackburn & Serge Duchêne
France recorded a more than 20% shortfall in nuclear power production capacity on Wednesday, a record deficit caused by environmental-related outages linked to drought, extreme heat and a jellyfish invasion.
France uses nuclear power to generate around 70% of its electricity. The country has seen nuclear power production disrupted by multiple heatwaves and droughts this year.
According to AFP calculations based on data published by energy group EDF since 2015, 20.4% of generating capacity was unavailable.
Between 9:45 am and 10:00 am, EDF's nuclear fleet recorded a new peak in outages due to "environmental constraints" or "external environmental causes," both in terms of the number of reactors shut down or operating at reduced output and in terms of lost generating capacity.
