Jellyfish Blackout

June 11, 2009 – Workers at Sweden’s Oskarhamn nuclear power plant (one of the biggest ones in the world) went into crisis mode as they performed an emergency shutdown on the Unit 3 reactor. For some reason, there was not enough water to keep things cool.

Engineers quickly uncovered the cause: jellyfish! Thousands of them had clogged the plant’s intake pipes. The plant would remain offline for several days while workers scooped out the squishy mess.

The whole incident serves as a reminder of how even the most advanced technology can be brought to its knees by simple creatures of the sea.