[ RadSafe ] Wind Farms /Fish Kill Warm Water Benefit thread

[stewart farber]

Hi all,

On the subject of the warm water discharged from power plants being a BENEFIT to local animals [in the case described below, manatees in Florida], copied below is an excerpt from the following link from an environmental newsletter I received yesterday:

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/41386/story.htm

>From the environmental newsletter at the above link:

"POWER PLANTS 

But conservationists say the potential closure of aging electric plants is an unsolved problem for the survival of the species. Water temperatures below 61 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees C) put a manatee in danger and every winter hundreds gather at waterfront power stations to take advantage of warm discharge water. 

Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric company, has five plants that are refuges and as many as 1,500 manatees can be found at the plants on a chilly winter night. 

"FPL has no plans to definitely close any of our power plants," said Winifred Perkins, FPL's manager of environmental relations. "But it's most people's opinion that most of these plants won't be around 50, 60, 70 years from now ... From the manatee's point of view, it's an acute issue." 

A state task force is considering ways to create alternative warm-water winter homes for manatees. "

====================

SAF Comment: Manatees in Florida flock to the discharge canals of large power plants. I visited a Tampa Electric Company [TEPCO] 4 unit coal fired plant about 4 years ago in December about 15 miles from Tampa. Hundreds of manatees at a time came into the discharge canal from the open coastal environment because they enjoyed warming up for a while. The water as it exited the plant into the canal running to the ocean was too warm to support indigenous vegetation and was depleted in oxygen because of its elevated temperature. However, the manatees loved the warm water. TEPCO had built a nature center at the end of the discharge canal where the manatees would congregate. There was an observation platform where people could visit and view the incredible manatees close up. After the manatees warmed their bones, they would go back to the near coastal environment to feed. So cool. The nature center employee for TEPCO told me the manatees did not start showing up at the inner part of the canal until the fourth power plant was built at the one site which resulted in a large enough plume of heated water out to the coastal environment to attract the creatures to swim up the discharge canal to where the water was initially discharged at its maximum temperature to begin its flow to the ocean.

As noted in the excerpt above, conservationists in Florida are CONCERNED about the closing of power plants there to which the manatees are attracted. Wow, what a change of perspective. The state of FL is looking for alternate ways to make warm water! I wonder how. Will FL harness the energy in all the hot air and BS released by politicians on environmental issues?

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Consulting Scientist
Farber Technical Services
1285 Wood Ave.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
[203] 441-8433 [office]
email: radproject at sbcglobal.net
          

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nathan, Steve" <Steve.Nathan at wsms.com> wrote:


My recollection from many years back is that it is the largest fish
kills around nuclear power plants was due to plant shut down.  It seems
the fish were attracted to the warm water in the plant out-fall, and
didn't migrate south in the colder weather.

Steve Nathan 
Washington Safety Management Solutions, LLC 


-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of ROY HERREN
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:25 PM
To: John Jacobus; Flanigan, Floyd; efforrer at aol.com; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Wind Farms

More than likely it's the lack of water, and the high temperature of the
little remaining water that is killing fish.


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