Officials at a one of the world’s largest nuclear reactor are preparing to switch it back on – after being forced to shut it down by jellyfish.
The Oskarshamn-3 reactor had been offline since September due to technical issues, but was due to restart on Sunday.
However, the start-up had to be aborted after the water cooling system became clogged by moon jellyfish sucked up from the Baltic Sea.
“We had enormous amounts of jellyfish coming from the sea that clogged our filters, preventing water intake,” a spokesman for the plant’s operators OKG said.
“There were tonnes of them.”
It is not the first time the plant has been struck by flood of jellyfish – a similar incident happened in 2005, forcing the operators to shut down a reactor.
The jellyfish, which can grow up to 45 centimetres, are found in coastal waters, particularly in overfished areas.
The 1400 megawatt reactor is the largest boiling water type reactor in the world, and draws in cold water from the sea to the plant’s turbines.
The reactor, a similar type to the Fukushima plant in Japan, is due to be restarted later today.
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