BERLIN: Furnace-like temperatures in much of Europe have created headaches for nuclear power plant operators, leading to electricity shortages in some areas and galvanizing opponents of atomic energy.

Authorities in both Germany and France have announced a relaxation of environmental rules at a number of nuclear power plants, sparking an outcry from ecologists who say local rivers are at risk.

The southern German states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg have ruled that plants can pump warmer water back into rivers than they are normally allowed due to the ongoing heatwave in the region, to avert electricity shortages.

Two plants in Baden-Wuettemberg have lowered production 20 per cent due to the high temperature of water used to cool the reactors, and Germany’s oldest nuclear plant at Obrigheim was told last week to switch off until the heatwave abated.

Environmentalist groups blasted the decision to ease the rules, saying even a temporary increase in river temperatures could be lethal to wildlife.

“The warmer the water in the rivers, the lower the level of oxygen it can hold, which increases the likelihood of fish dying,” said Greenpeace spokeswoman Susanne Ochse.

France, where atomic power produces nearly 80 per cent of the country’s electricity, has also authorized state-owned utility EDF to expel warmer water from six nuclear plants.

The coalition Sortir du Nucleaire (Out with Nuclear Power) denounced the move as “scandalous dispensations with the sole purpose of protecting nuclear energy,” warning of grave consequences for the environment.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said that “exceptional measures had to be taken” at the power plants and “were taken in a timely fashion,” in a statement on the concessions granted to EDF.

While France stands by nuclear power as a relatively clean source of energy, Germany has decided to mothball its 19 plants over the next two decades on the initiative of the ecologist Greens party, junior partner in the ruling coalition.

In Switzerland, one of the country’s five nuclear power stations, Beznau, has slowed production by 15 per cent due to hot water in its cooling system while three others are offline for routine summer maintenance work.—AFP