There is good news and bad news about nuclear power in Europe. The Economist magazine reports in an email that:
Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, said it could “make sense” to keep the country’s three remaining nuclear power plants open amid concerns over energy supplies from Russia. The plants had been slated for closure by the end of the year. Mr Scholz’s comments came as he visited a turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Russia cited problems with the turbine as the cause of reduced gas supplies; the European Union disputes that argument.
Meanwhile, the heat wave in Europe is interfering with France's nuclear power generation. Reuters reports that
An unseasonably warm May has led to high water temperatures in several rivers throughout France, putting some nuclear plants' output at risk during a period of historically high unavailability, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Wednesday.
French nuclear supply [already] stood at a much reduced 50% of available capacity on Wednesday, with a slew of reactors having gone offline in recent months owing to issues with corrosion found in the welding of reactor safety circuits.