--- title: "France Discovers Ominous Cracks in Dozens of Nuclear Reactors" description: "Bad Reaction Europe's energy crisis may have just gotten worse. The Wall Street Journal reports that dozens of France's nuclear reactors — which, amid Russia's devastating stranglehold on the continent's natural gas supply, are essential to the nation's energy security — remain offline following a series of troubling outages believed to be caused by stress-induced […]" date: "2022-10-26" modified: "2022-10-26" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/france-cracks-dozens-reactors" categories: - "Energy" - "Nuclear Fusion" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "energy" - "nuclear plant" - "nuclear power" - "the digest" --- # France Discovers Ominous Cracks in Dozens of Nuclear Reactors ![Dozens of France's nuclear reactors remain offline following a series of troubling outages believed to be caused by stress-induced pipe corrosion.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Bad Reaction Europe's [energy crisis]() may have just gotten worse. *The Wall Street Journal* [reports that]() dozens of France's nuclear reactors — which, amid [Russia's devastating stranglehold]() on the continent's natural gas supply, are essential to the nation's energy security — remain offline following a series of troubling outages believed to be caused by stress-induced pipe corrosion. Fixes are reportedly taking longer than anticipated, but for a struggling continent on the brink of winter, those fixes can't come quickly enough. "It's important that this work restarts as soon as possible," Emmanuelle Wargon, head of France's energy regulator, told the *WSJ.* "If not, the risk of not having electricity rises." ## High Pressure The nuclear fleet in question, owned by the energy provider EDF, is comprised of 56 reactors, of which 26 are currently out for the count. According to the *WSJ*, the pipe problems trace back to late last year, when a crack was discovered in a high-pressure pipe close to the reactor's core at the nation's youngest nuclear plant. Other plants, which then launched their own investigations, discovered their own stress corrosion issues shortly thereafter. "It is only possible to identify \[stress corrosion's\] presence once cracking has begun," read a note from France's Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety, the *WSJ* reports. "Regular inspections of the pipes can only identify the phenomenon once a fault is present." Importantly, these aren't simple fixes. Because the majority of the cracks are so close to the reactor core, radioactivity is a very real threat for technicians, whose exposure has to be limited. And given how complicated the repairs are, French power experts are reportedly quite pessimistic about the EDF's ability to get their reactors back online for the winter, especially given that, per the *WSJ's* sources, the timelines for several reactor fixes have already been pushed back by at least six weeks. ## Beyond the Border These outages are clearly terrible for France, but they're just as bad for the rest of Europe, too. Natural gas prices have skyrocketed as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which sparred a barrage of Western sanctions and Russia's subsequent retaliation by way of natural gas restriction. Nations are asking a lot of their citizens, and the continent needs any ounce of energy that it can scavenge to at least somewhat comfortably — let alone safely — get through the winter. **READ MORE:** *[France's Nuclear Reactors Malfunction as Energy Crisis Bites]()* \[*The Wall Street Journal*\] **More on Europe's energy crisis:** *[Europe's Energy Crisis Is so Bad It May Have to Idle Cern's Large Hadron Collider]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()