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When the water runs dry: Why France is freaking out over a tiny Swiss dam (www.politico.eu)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Water-rich Switzerland controls Western Europe’s taps — and wants it to stay that way. Its drought-ridden neighbors are getting nervous.

At the western edge of Lake Geneva, where the mighty Rhône river squeezes through a narrow dam, a blunder of French diplomacy is carved into stone for all to see.

The inscription, mounted on the walls of an old industrial building, commemorates the 1884 accord between three Swiss cantons that have regulated the water levels of this vast Alpine lake ever since. It does not mention France — even though some 40 percent of the lake is French territory.

“France, for some reason, wasn’t part of the contract,” said Jérôme Barras as he unlocked a gate below the epigraph to inspect a hydropower plant under the dam he has managed for more than a decade.

When the agreement was renewed and a new dam was built a century later, Paris still wasn’t interested.

The French government now regrets that.

…

And France has suddenly realized it can’t control that tap as it battles water shortages, destructive droughts and baking heat.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (16 children)

Then there’s the issue of how that water gets used. Switzerland, which has decided to phase out nuclear power, is miffed about guaranteeing water supply so France can cool its expanding nuclear fleet.

It's possible to drastically reduce how much cooling water a nuclear power plant requires by taking a little water out and fully evaporating it, rather than running a lot of water in and heating up the whole river a little bit. My understanding is that French power plants use the second approach, which is older.

The Rhône’s waters are vital to the Bugey nuclear plant, which sits just across the Swiss border — much to the dismay of Hodgers, a Green Party politician fiercely opposed to atomic power.

Well, if he just doesn't like nuclear power generation at all, there's not much that can be done.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It's possible to drastically reduce how much cooling water a nuclear power plant requires by taking a little water out and fully evaporating it, rather than running a lot of water in and heating up the whole river a little bit.

Ah yes. Great idea. That water wouldn't influence the local climate at all, right?

[–] Shiggles 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You’re concerned about a cooling tower that literally just evaporates water? You realize those aren’t nuclear specific?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

How much water? What effects will have on the river and the local water? And yes, these are questions one needs to be concerned about in any project of this size.

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