France takes reactors offline in the heat as Greek wildfires kill five and Washington State fires displace 64,000

Euronews reports that France has shut nuclear reactors to avoid discharging warm water into rivers already warmed by the current heat wave, the same environmental limit that forced shutdowns at the Golfech, Bugey and Chooz plants earlier this summer. In Greece, wildfires have killed five people, and more than 12,000 hectares of forest and farmland have burned in the past week. In Spain's Zamora province, an industrial fire prompted emergency services to send alerts to nearby residents telling them to stay indoors because of a heavy plume of toxic smoke.

Across the Atlantic, the same conditions are producing comparable costs. The Japan Times reports that fires in Washington State have destroyed more than 700 buildings and forced about 64,000 people to leave their homes, with dozens of large fires burning for weeks across a drought-affected region and degrading air quality over a wide area. Al Jazeera published footage recorded by firefighters working a blaze in Spokane.

The economic mechanics are specific rather than general. French nuclear output falls exactly when air-conditioning demand peaks, which forces the country to import power or run more expensive plants and pushes prices up across the interconnected European market. Greek and Iberian fires destroy agricultural output and property in regions where insurance coverage is uneven. In the United States Pacific Northwest, the evacuation of 64,000 people removes labor and consumption from local economies for weeks and adds to a rebuilding bill that insurers and state budgets share.