France's state-owned energy giant EDF has temporarily shut down two nuclear reactors as a precautionary environmental measure as the country grapples with a record-breaking heatwave that has already turned deadly. The reactors taken offline on Thursday are at Nogent-sur-Seine on the Seine River north of Paris and at Bugey on the Rhone near Lyon in the southeast, a reminder that even the machinery of the state has to stop when rivers get too hot for its own rules.
The State's Infrastructure Hits the Wall
Both shutdowns were triggered by rising river temperatures, which EDF is required by law to monitor to avoid discharging water that could harm aquatic ecosystems. A reactor at the Golfech plant on the Garonne river in southwestern France was also taken offline on Monday, and output was reduced at a number of other sites across EDF's 57-reactor fleet, which together accounted for close to 70% of France's electricity generation last year. Despite the outages, French grid operator RTE said on Wednesday that “France has sufficient generation capacity to meet electricity demand, including in the event of outages at certain production facilities.”
France has placed more than half of its 96 departments under a danger-to-life red alert, urging citizens to avoid direct sunlight and exercise “absolute vigilance” as the heatwave tightens its grip. Météo-France reported that Tuesday 23 June was the hottest day recorded since measurements began in 1947. France recorded its hottest day on Wednesday for the second day in a row, and Météo-France said the average minimum temperature reached 22C on Wednesday night. Nantes saw 27.2C in the north-west.
Health Systems Under Strain
France's health minister Stéphanie Rist said there were risks to young people as well as the elderly and said, “Even if you are young and in good health with no underlying medical issues, this heat will affect you too.” She said young people were also suffering from cardiac arrests, and that the ambulance service in Paris had seen four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a 24-hour period, while stressing there were no confirmed figures for the number of deaths linked to the heatwave. Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the mortality rate was on the rise in the capital and said, “We must not believe we are invulnerable,” adding, “I am thinking especially about the youth... At about 19:30 last night... I saw 100 or so joggers on the street. Frankly, that's irresponsible.” He also said, “It's fine to take a couple of days off from exercising.”
Speaking to local media, Paris police chief Patrice Faure said, “We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities.” Meanwhile, a three-year-old child was found dead in a car in the Paris region, days after two young children were found dead in the family's car in the southern town of Carpentras. In the north-western city of Rennes, the head of the Accident and Emergency department Professor Louis Soulas linked the deaths of five or six people in their homes in the region to the extreme temperatures. Emergency services had gone to check on them after they had failed to pick up their phones during welfare calls, and Soulas said, “It's not just the very elderly; it's people aged 60 and up.” Rennes saw a record 40.6C on Monday, only for that to be broken by 41C the following day. The previous record dated back to 2022.
Sébastien Lecornu said France's Orsan health emergency plan was now moving to level three so the health system could “withstand the strain over time and protect the most vulnerable.” French teachers' unions are calling for a strike in response to “unacceptable working conditions” in the heat, saying that despite having called for mitigation measures to be taken “nothing was done” and the “health of staff, students and their working conditions are being jeopardised.” Three nuclear plants in France have gone offline due to the heat.
Heat, Work, and the Managed Crisis
The crisis is not limited to France. Germany, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland are also anticipating scorching temperatures, with hundreds of schools shut or closed early and train services in cities including Paris and Brussels reduced to lower the risk of breakdowns. This is Europe's third heatwave of the year, with forecasters warning temperatures could hit 43C in the Mediterranean. The energy strain is already visible: in the peak days of last year's June and July heatwave, daily power demand rose by up to 14%, driving a two to three-fold increase in average daily power prices. Scientists say parts of Europe are experiencing up to 40 additional days of extreme heat stress compared with the 1970s, according to a major new study.
Heatwave conditions that have left Spain, the UK and France sweltering for days are set to shift to the east, with forecasters in Germany and the Czech Republic warning of extreme conditions. Temperatures in Germany could hit 40C in some western and south-western areas on Thursday and across the country on Friday. An extreme weather warning is now in place in much of the Czech Republic. United Nations climate change chief Simon Stiell said, “Europe's savage heatwave has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it,” and called for “a faster shift to renewables, protecting forests and boosting climate resilience.”
In Germany, overnight temperatures in the southwestern town of Bad Bergzabern did not fall below 26.2C on Wednesday night, equalling a national heat record set in 2019. Germany's DWD weather service said large areas of the country were experiencing “heat stress” and DWD meteorologist Oliver Reuter said it was “quite likely” the heatwave would ultimately be seen as historic. Luxembourg recorded its highest June temperature of 38.3C in Wormeldingen on Wednesday, and a red alert level for “extreme thermal stress” has been extended in the grand duchy until Saturday night.
In Germany, Hamburg's half marathon has been cancelled on Sunday and national train operator Deutsche Bahn is offering free ticket cancellations over the next few days for anyone not wishing to travel because of the extreme heat. Czech Railways have told passengers they should consider postponing their trips if they do not have to travel. Much of northern and southern Switzerland was put on maximum weather alert by MeteoSuisse, which warned of a “significant drought situation.” Temperatures across the Czech Republic were well into the 30s on Thursday and the ČHMÚ Hydrometeorological Institute said the heat would intensify on Friday with temperatures climbing up to 40C at the weekend.
Weekend temperatures could also hit 40C in the Austrian capital Vienna, and a code red comes into effect in eight out of 12 provinces in the Netherlands from midnight on Thursday local time, with the chance of 39C in localised eastern areas. The UK's Met Office has extended its red extreme temperatures warning until Friday evening for parts of London and south-eastern England.
In Italy, Florence's Uffizi museum has halted ticket sales until 28 June, and only those with a previous booking will be allowed in. Management said the air conditioning system could not cope with the high flow of visitors and the extreme temperatures, which reached 32C inside the museum on Wednesday. Italians have been experiencing high temperatures since the start of this week, but the peak of the heat is expected for Monday, when 40C are expected in various northern regions. Night-time temperatures in those areas might not drop below 29C. Forecaster Lorenzo Tedici told Italian media, “Gone are last century's June days of 32C daytime temperatures and cool 17C nights,” and, “We have become so accustomed to excess that, paradoxically, today we welcome a forecast of 34C as good news.”