Environmental Impacts
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented rules under 316(b) of the Clean Water Act that will impact owners and operators of facilities in the United States using water for cooling purposes. Power Plants and other large industrial sites use large amounts of water for cooling purposes and can adversely affect fish and other aquatic organisms. These facilities generally use a series of rotating screens to keep larger organisms form passing through cooling systems. These organisms that are impinged on the screens are washed into a large basket or returned to the water body. Organisms smaller than the mesh of the screens are drawn through the cooling system or entrained. This would include fish eggs or larvae.
Since 1972 my research interests have included the monitoring of Power Plants to determine compliance with EPA rules. This has included work at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Dickerson Generating Station, Chalk Point Generating Station and Morgantown Electric Generating Station to name a few. The focus of the monitoring is to determine the effects on adult fish and fish eggs and larvae. This work includes developing plant operating strategies and modifications to reduce either the numbers of organisms affected or to increase the survival of organisms.
