Post #3386505

2026-06-24 01:38 UTC

France: Nuclear power reactors are having to shut down because the rivers they source cooling water from are too hot (28C!), the Louvre shuts early because its climate control can't handle the afternoon heat from its patrons, and people are drowning in rivers trying desperately to cool off. I wish I was reading these things in a Michael Crichton novel, not the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/23/heatwave-france-spain-italy-europe

Replies (18)

@Mwritter@universeodon.com 2026-06-24 02:11

@timixretroplays@digipres.club Crichton would never write those stories, he was an adamant climate denier.

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@GhostOnTheHalfShell@masto.ai 2026-06-24 02:47

@timixretroplays@digipres.club I don’t know what is common in France or not but a bathtub with water in it pour a cold shower can be very effective without the drowning risk

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@NathanMurdock@mastodon.social 2026-06-24 02:59

@timixretroplays@digipres.club I live in Canada and I hate hot weather, and by hot weather I mean 25C. This is absolutely awful heat that you have there.

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@PGBeattie@mastodonapp.uk 2026-06-24 04:19

@timixretroplays@digipres.club The awefulness of the Climate at the moment is only the start Governments where warned of the potential issues and deaths.... building closures due to the heat and power cuts This is a warning, which Governments will ignore as they are unable to implement the unpopular policies needed to attempt to cope with changes for fear of turning the voters angry.... Action needs to be taken now, before it gets worse.... it probably won't arrest the change but might help some adjust to the new normal.

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@lordkhan@social.cologne 2026-06-24 04:57

@timixretroplays@digipres.club but all the conservatives here in Germany told us that we need nuclear plants. Did they lie? 😉 It’s crazy what’s going on in Europe. But I fear that in the months everyone forgot about it and again no changes will be made.

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@FrutigerAero00@mastodon.social 2026-06-24 05:09

@timixretroplays@digipres.club Meanwhile people from Spain:

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@Linza@kamu.social 2026-06-24 06:19

@timixretroplays@digipres.club I did not expect chapter one of Ministry for the Future to take place in France.

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@uncycliste@hostux.social 2026-06-24 06:25

@timixretroplays@digipres.club only 1 nuclear reactor is shut down out of 57, and 2 slowed down. Your writing makes it worse than the reality.

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@xri@kolektiva.social 2026-06-24 06:33

@timixretroplays@digipres.club who could have predicted this???

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@kotking@blorbo.social 2026-06-24 06:52

@timixretroplays@digipres.club So to sum up - we want Nuclear reactors as green energy. we want to use nuclear reactors to power AI data centers. we want to use water to cool both data centers and Nuclear reactors. river water too hot for both data centers and Nuclear reactors. still better than solar, wind, water energy source. also also we much choose between EU aiming for fighting global warming or AI data centers I might be not a scientist, but I think I know how house of cards easily falls if not for money pushing for dumb decisions.

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@Otttoz@mastodon.uno 2026-06-24 07:06

@timixretroplays@digipres.club NO AL NUCLEARE IN ITALIA

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@megatronicthronbanks@mastodon.social 2026-06-24 07:10

@timixretroplays@digipres.club SACREBLUBLUBLUBLUB.......

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@jbqueru@floss.social 2026-06-24 07:23

@timixretroplays@digipres.club The business district in La Défense will likely run out of air conditioning tomorrow for lack of capacity (they have ice storage to even out the peaks, but that's not enough for this continued heat wave).

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@PetraPanda@mastodon.social 2026-06-24 08:50

@timixretroplays@digipres.club #NothingToSeeHere #PerfectlyNormal

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@Hex@kolektiva.social 2026-06-24 10:10

@timixretroplays@digipres.club the author you're looking for is Kim Stanley Robinson, and he did write that book. Unfortunately it was a bit too optimistic.

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@abmallgren@mastodon.social 2026-06-24 11:13

@timixretroplays@digipres.club France seems to have a robust heating system. 👌

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@mathieui@piaille.fr 2026-06-24 11:30

@timixretroplays@digipres.club For the record, this does not have much to do with the operability of the plant, but is rather due to the pesky environmental regulations forbidding exhaust above that temperature because cooking the fishes inside the river is bad. Unless a political turnaround happens fast, my guess is that they will relax those regulations within a few years to avoid investing in other power sources or trying to curb usage.

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@undead@masto.hackers.town 2026-06-24 13:16

@timixretroplays@digipres.club What matters when the heat is this high is the relative humidity. I have no idea what that is in the regions experiencing this heat. The Guardian leaves this out entirely. 40C with high humidity and no wind will kill people. 40C with low humidity is a lot less lethal. edit- Humidity is around 16% in Bordeaux, at least. That just makes it hot, and not lethal.

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