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Rondaru t1_jedpixw wrote

Reply to comment by IngloriousTom in The European Union to nearly double the share of renewables in the 27-nation bloc's energy consumption by 2030 amid efforts to become carbon neutral and ditch Russian fossil fuels. by chrisdh79

"Legal" requirement sounds like you don't really care if you'd kill thousands if not millions of fish by giving them a heat stroke.

Power plants need to cool down their hot cooling water to harmless levels before releasing it back into the lakes or rivers. That is what those giant cooling towers are for. But on hot summer days, their efficiency is greatly reduced and that limits the plant's thermal waste output and thus production capacity. And that is why they should be paired with solar energy to fill the gap on such hot days.

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IngloriousTom t1_jedt7ew wrote

> "Legal" requirement sounds like you don't really care if you'd kill thousands if not millions of fish by giving them a heat stroke.

Given that this law has been repealed this summer during the worst drought of recent history without any consequences, it's fair to say this piece of legislation was unnecessarily cautious.

In any cases that's not related to what OP said about water being too hot to cool down the reactors, with a lot of confidence.

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