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"Nuclear power plants need a constant flow of water to cool their reactors and turbine systems, which is why many plants are built near large bodies of water. Marine biologists said they would not be surprised if more jellyfish shutdowns occurred in the future."

"'It's one of the species that can bloom in extreme areas that … are over-fished or have bad conditions,' said Moller. 'The moon jelly likes these types of waters. They don't care if there are algae blooms, they don't care if the oxygen concentration is low. The fish leave … and [the moon jelly] can really take over the ecosystem.'"

Moon jellyfish, like this captive colony, entered Oskarshamn's cool water pipes, causing staff to scramble reactor number three. Photograph: Lionel Cironneau/AP

Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant (photo: OKG)

Excerpts taken from The Guardian
“Jellyfish clog pipes of Swedish nuclear reactor forcing plant shutdown”
1 October 2013

Jellyfish clog pipes of Swedish nuclear reactor forcing plant shutdown

"A huge cluster of jellyfish forced the Oskarshamn plant, the site of one of the world's largest nuclear reactors, to shut down by clogging the pipes conducting cool water to the turbines. Operators of the plant on the Baltic coast in south-east Sweden had to scramble reactor No 3 on Sunday after tons of jellyfish were caught in the pipes."

By Tuesday, the pipes were cleared of the jellyfish and engineers were preparing to restart the 1,400MWe boiling water reactor, said Anders Osterberg, a spokesman for OKG, the plant operator."