As Europe swelters in extreme heat, Eiffel Tower closes its top level and a Swiss reactor shuts down

Extreme temperatures soared across Europe on Wednesday as several countries issued heat alerts, with a Swiss power company shutting down one of its reactor units, France partially closing the Eiffel Tower and two people in Spain dying in a heat wave.

In Switzerland, energy company Axpo shut down one of the reactor units at its Beznau nuclear power plant because of high water temperature in the River Aare. The plant, which typically takes cooling water from the river for use before returning it, is prevented from doing so by Swiss regulations when temperatures reach 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher to avoid causing damage to aquatic fauna and flora.

“Due to the high river water temperatures, Axpo has been increasingly reducing the output of the two reactor units at the Beznau nuclear power plant for days,” the company said in a statement Wednesday, adding that one unit was currently operating at 50% capacity.

In France, the national weather service Wednesday issued a rare red alert in four regions where the heat wave was expected to last until 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET).

In Paris, officials said the Eiffel Tower’s top level would remain closed to visitors because of the current heat wave. According to its website, rising temperatures cause the puddled iron of the tower to expand in size and tilt slightly, but without causing any impact to its structural integrity.

French Environment Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said at a news conference Wednesday that firefighters had responded to more than 300 weather-related emergencies.

Meanwhile, a wildfire in Spain’s Catalonia region killed two people Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said.

“My sympathy goes out to all those affected and my gratitude to the emergency services working to extinguish the fire,” Sánchez wrote in a post on X on Wednesday, adding, “In these months of heightened risk, please let us take extreme precautions.”

In a separate post on X, Catalonia’s civil protection services said Wednesday that it was still working to extinguish the fire that was ablaze in three different areas and warned of a “high risk of forest fires” in two more.

Spain recorded its hottest June to date with temperatures passing 40 C (104 F) in some of its cities Tuesday.

In the United Kingdom, the national weather service said last month’s mean temperature of 16.9 C (62°F) was the second warmest June recorded in the country since record keeping began in 1884.

Studies have shown that climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves around the world. As the world continues to warm, these extremes are expected to compound, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which said the region is heating up at twice the global average speed.

On Monday, the United Nation’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, said the heat wave underscored the need for climate adaptation by moving away from fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change, according to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“Rising temperatures, rising seas, floods, droughts, and wildfires threaten our rights to life, to health, to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and much more,” Turk said.

Other European countries also felt the sweltering effects.

The Italian Health Ministry issued heat wave red alerts for 16 cities, including Rome and Milan. In 13 regions, including Lombardy and Emilia, people were advised not to venture outdoors for work during the hottest periods of the day.

Two people in the country died from separate heat-related causes, including a 47-year-old working on a construction site near Bologna.

In Turkey, wildfires burned for a second day and more than 50,000 people were evacuated by rescuers Wednesday, according to the AFAD emergency management authority.

The blistering temperatures were caused by a “heat dome,” a high-pressure system that stalled over western Europe, trapping hot air from northern Africa over the region — akin to a lid on a pot of boiling water. Heat domes can linger for days or weeks, driving up heat and humidity for extended periods of time.