If you’re ever feeling powerless, remember that a bunch of spineless, brainless sea creatures that look like floating plastic grocery bags just temporarily shut down one of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plants.
Over the weekend, four out of six reactors at France’s Gravelines Nuclear Power Station were forced offline after a massive swarm of jellyfish clogged its cooling system. Yes, jellyfish. The creatures whose name conjures images that range from being spread on toast to having to get peed on if you’re touched by one.
They wriggled into the plant’s intake filters and gummed up the works. It’s an inspirational underdog story like the Ewoks triumphing over the Empire in Return of the Jedi.
The shutdown happened automatically as part of the plant’s safety protocol, according to EDF, t