Tucked away in this article about extreme heat in the south is this interesting fact.
The heat wave in the South and Midwest is being blamed for 41 deaths, and more are expected to be confirmed as heat-related. Nine deaths each have been reported in Missouri and Memphis, eight in Illinois, four each in Arkansas and Georgia, three in Alabama, two in South Carolina, one in Mississippi and one in Tennessee outside Memphis.
At the Browns Ferry nuclear plant in northern Alabama, one reactor was shut down and two others were running at reduced power because of overheated water in the Tennessee River, which is used to cool the reactors.
“This all comes down to the drought and the hot weather,” said a plant spokesman, Jason Huffine.
David Lochbaum, an industry watchdog, said the shutdown highlighted a problem for nuclear power. “This is an unforeseen impact of global warming,” said Mr. Lochbaum, a former Browns Ferry engineer who is now with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. “These plants don’t do very well in extremely hot weather.”