France is almost synonymous with nuclear power.

In addition to the country having one of the world's largest fleets, the state-owned company Areva lobbies hard for projects in other countries.

Have become a net importer

Now the challenges are piling up at home.

In December last year, errors were detected at a facility that was taken offline.

Another power plant that uses the same type of reactor was shut down as a safety measure.

The heat wave has also strained the cooling.

France has temporarily loosened the rules for how much cooling water can be released, reports Reuters.

Overall, the challenges have contributed to France halving its total energy exports in the first six months of the year, according to Enappsy's analysis.

The country now buys more energy than it sells.

Market in swing

The war in Ukraine and subsequent embargoes against Russian gas and oil have also contributed to the changes in the European energy market, reports the Reuters news agency.

Although Sweden, like France, has a relatively large nuclear power fleet, energy is also generated by hydro and wind power plus biogas.

Wind power is increasing as the use of fossil fuels decreases, according to International Energy Agency statistics.

Mainly supplies the neighboring countries

Since the turn of the year until the end of June, Sweden has net exported 16 terawatt hours, according to the latest overview, of which almost half went to Finland and a quarter to Denmark.

How much Swedish exports have increased is not clear in Enappsy's summary.