French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne set up an inter-ministerial crisis unit on Thursday to deal with mitigating the effects of high temperatures in the face of the upcoming heatwave.
The inter-ministerial crisis unit, which is to deal with mitigating the effects of the upcoming heatwave in parts of France, will be headed by the head of the Prime Minister’s office, Jean-Denis Combrexelle. It will include e.g. representatives of the ministries of internal affairs, health, agriculture and transport, as well as individual departments.
“In the next few days, France may experience the hottest time of the summer,” wrote the daily Le Monde. The heatwave, which started locally in the Lyon area in central-eastern France on Tuesday, will spread to the south of the country from Sunday, the daily Le Figaro reported.
“This sudden increase in temperatures is caused by a heat dome that will settle over France,” explained Cyril Bonnefoy of the French weather channel La Chaine Meteo. This is a phenomenon where a warm mass of air becomes trapped, causing high temperatures to persist.
Nuclear power plants can reduce production
Seven departments in the east and southeast of the country had an orange heatwave alert on Thursday.
The country’s nuclear power plant operator EDF said that two of its reactors, Bugey (Ain) from August 19 and Tricastin (Drome) from August 20, may reduce production due to the heatwave and the increase in the temperature of the water needed to cool the plant’s reactors.
Temperatures are expected to peak on Monday and Tuesday, and not drop until mid to late next week. According to the national meteorological service Meteo-France, temperatures will reach 40 degrees Celsius.
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