Knew this was coming...only around 5000 fish this time. If you or I broke the Regs by this many fish we would be in jail. I am certainly not against Nuclear Power, Oyster Creek, AmerGen or Exelon...BUT they need to do something to stop this EVERY time the reactor gets shut down!
DEP fines nuclear plant for fish kills
Reactor operator will pay $67.8G
By Todd B. Bates • ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER •
November 25, 2008
LACEY — The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey will pay a $67,859 state fine for two recent fish kills that claimed more than 5,000 bluefish and other species in its discharge canal, a plant spokesman said Monday.
That's $12.60 per fish.
Activists called the state Department of Environmental Protection fine a slap on the wrist compared with a $1 million settlement for a 2002 kill involving 5,876 fish. That's $170.18 per fish.
Cooling towers should be installed to reduce the plant's impact on aquatic life, activists said. Oyster Creek owner Exelon has indicated that it may close the plant if the DEP requires cooling towers, which would cost tens of millions of dollars.
"Every environmental enforcement incident is assessed for the violation that occurs at that specific time.‚.‚.‚a case by case assessment,'' according to an e-mail from DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura.
The DEP continues to work on a "complicated draft permit'' for Oyster Creek, Makatura said.
One of the two unplanned Oyster Creek shutdowns that led to the recent fine took place in January 2006, when 78 dead bluefish, a northern scup and a gizzard shad were seen along the banks of the canal, according to the enforcement agreement between the DEP and plant operator AmerGen Energy Co.
The other happened in December 2007, when 5,304 dead fish, all but three of them bluefish, were collected from the canal, the agreement stated.
"We don't like to have unplanned shutdowns at any of our Exelon plants, but they happen occasionally,'' and "they demonstrate the conservative safety system that we have built into a plant,'' plant spokesman David Benson said.
AmerGen will study the feasibility of trying to keep fish from entering the canal, according to the agreement.
AmerGen is seeking a 20-year license renewal for Oyster Creek from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Opponents are battling the proposed renewal.
The plant uses water from the Barnegat Bay to cool its turbine condenser and discharges the warm waste water to a man-made canal that flows into Oyster Creek and back to the bay, the agreement says.
The plant discharges about 1.2 billion gallons of cooling and dilution water a day through two outfall structures, the agreement stated.
The warm water attracts fish in Barnegat Bay that would normally migrate south for the winter, Benson said.
When the bay cools during cold weather, fish remain in the canal until the bay warms again, he said.
"So when the plant isn't operating, there's no warm water discharge into the canal, so the canal temperature goes down, and it puts the fish at risk,'' he said. "We have a responsibility to take care of the environment, and we do everything possible to plan our work activities to minimize'' environmental impacts.
Thomas P. Fote of Toms River, legislative chairman of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, was among several activists who called for cooling towers to be built.
"This is .‚.‚. basically a fine for killing fish as usual,'' Fote said.
The fine is "like a slap on the wrist,'' said Jennifer Samson, principal scientist for Clean Ocean Action, a Sandy Hook-based coalition of 125 groups.
Oyster Creek's water intake and discharge permit took effect in 1994 and expired in 1999, the agreement says. It remains in effect while the DEP drafts a new permit.
