One of the largest nuclear power plants in Europe was forced to shut down after some unusual visitors.

Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France was fully shut down on Monday after a ‘massive and unpredictable’ swarm of jellyfish entered the plant’s pumping stations.

The power station, located between the cities of Dunkirk and Calais, is connected to the North Sea via a canal, which pumps in sea water to cool its reactors.

Its six units produce 900megawatts of power each – but four of them were forced to halt production over the jellyfish invasion.

Data from EDF, which runs the power plant, showed the other two units were already offline for planned maintenance.

The power company said it did not know what species of jellyfish was involved in the shutdown, but that its staff ar

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