France Resorts To Fuel Oil To Fire Up Power Generating Plants Amid EDF Shutdowns

While Paris is usually a major exporter of power, lately it is been boosting electricity imports and even burning fuel oil to keep the lights on in the country. This energy crunch comes after EDF Energy was forced to shut down two nuclear power plants over safety fears, Antony Ashkenaz reported for the UK’s Daily Express.

Photo Insert: This energy crunch comes after EDF Energy was forced to shut down two nuclear power plants over safety fears

The state-owned energy provider found faults on pipes in a safety system at its Civaux nuclear power station. It said it would also shut down another plant because it used the same kind of reactors.

The issue was detected close to the welds on the pipes of the safety injection-system circuit in the two reactors in Western France.

The four shut down reactors accounted for 10 percent of the nation’s nuclear capacity but their shutdown strained power grids already coping with cold weather. Desperate to prevent a blackout, France has resorted to using fuel oil to satisfy the country's power needs amid a continent-wide energy crisis.

France operated a total of six oil-fired units on Tuesday morning. Javier Blas, Bloomberg's chief Energy Correspondent, wrote on Twitter: "France is resorting to fuel oil to keep the lights on this morning."

Fuel oil is an extremely low-quality fossil fuel used commonly in the shipping industry. It is extremely harmful to humans when burned and has been blamed for thousands of deaths relating to air pollution.

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