French heatwave takes Golfech 2 reactor offline
PARIS, Aug 12 (Reuters) - High temperatures caused EDF's Golfech 2 reactor in southern France to go offline on Wednesday, French grid operator RTE said.
The Golfech nuclear power plant's two reactors each produce 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of electricity, with the Golfech 1 reactor already offline since Monday for planned maintenance.
EDF's use of water is regulated by law to protect plant and animal life. It is obliged to reduce output during hot weather when water temperatures rise, or when river levels and the flow rate are low.
RTE said earlier on Wednesday that high temperatures could halt reactor 2 later in the day, after previously warning an outage might occur from Tuesday.
The grid's website later showed that Golfech 2 was unavailable and would be offline for 24 hours.
Temperatures at the Golfech nuclear site on the Garonne river are expected to reach 30 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, according to Meteo France's weather forecast.
The current heatwave is not forecast to stretch beyond the weekend, with temperatures beginning to recede on Thursday, data from Meteo France showed.
Power prices for day-ahead delivery fell in France on Wednesday on lower demand, which is forecast to fall 3.7 GW to 41.4 GW Thursday as temperatures cool.
In northern France, the Chooz 1 reactor's outage was extended to next Wednesday, having been offline since Feb. 21.
The Chooz site also has two reactors with a capacity of 1.45 GW each. Chooz's reactor 2 remained online as of 1054 GMT.
RTE had warned on Monday that the Chooz reactors could face restrictions equivalent to the production of one reactor this Saturday due to high temperatures lowering the water level on the Meuse River.
The Chooz site in the Ardennes region is forecast to see temperatures peaking at 34 degrees Wednesday, Meteo France data showed. (Reporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
