Recently, according to the Scottish Herald, Scotland's only nuclear power plant was shut down during emergency procedures this week as jellyfish blocked the plant's seawater cooling intake pipe.
Because there are too many jellyfish, if the intake pipe is completely blocked, it will lead to the inability to obtain cold water, and the nuclear power plant will face the risk of overheating, which can have catastrophic consequences (such as the previous Fukushima).
Not only that, from the perspective of the equipment, the intake pipe may also be damaged, so that the power generation is forced to be interrupted, and the marine organisms that are sucked into the intake pipe of the power plant are at risk of death. Economically, the plant was forced to lose more than $1.5 million a day due to the shutdown of the plant.
In fact, this is not the first time in the world that such a situation has occurred, because nuclear power plants are underwater, so these gelatinous, pulsating, umbrella-shaped marine animals pose a threat to nuclear power plants has never been new and strange! In particular, this translucent tentacled jellyfish will enter the intake pipe if you are not careful.
As early as 2011, it was because of the "invasion" of marine life that the Tornes nuclear power plant was forced to close, which cost about $2 million a day that year. As long as there are nuclear power plants, there are basically this problem, and every year these invertebrates "attack" nuclear power plants, such as those in Israel, Japan, the United States, China, the Philippines, South Korea and Sweden have faced great threats, and most countries have been forced to shut down nuclear power plants.
How to solve this problem? In the past, people directly thought of the way, is to use the filter, the trachea wrapped up, but this also has drawbacks, a little longer time, will be outside the trachea, piled up a lot of other garbage, and then lead to the trachea blockage is more serious.
And not only jellyfish, but also some small fish and shrimp will also enter the pipe, and even the filter cannot be completely blocked.
Later, with the continuous advancement of science and technology, in order to protect marine life and avoid the closure of power plants, scientists actively explored ways to warn the system. For example, researchers at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom set up a special research laboratory very early.
The final result, published earlier this year, is to use drones to estimate the location, number and density of jellyfish, and to establish a complete closed-loop early warning system. As long as there are jellyfish close by, multiple indicators can be dispersed and reported in advance. Final experiments proved that within a certain range, the accuracy rate is as high as more than 90%.
Some people may wonder why jellyfish "invade" such pipes. After research, it was found that near the discharge port of the nuclear power plant, due to the engine work, the water temperature is relatively warm, which may attract jellyfish groups. In addition, as long as it is human intervention, there will be pollution, which will also reduce the oxygen content in the seawater, and jellyfish are more tolerant of seawater than other marine animals, resulting in their reproduction, and once the number is increased, it will inevitably appear in the current "conflict".
So this is a very real question, is it the jellyfish that attacked the nuclear power plant, or because of the construction of the nuclear power plant, destroying the living environment of marine life, causing them to have to do it? How can the development of human science and technology be compatible with environmental protection and biodiversity?