Re: fishkills

[Norman Cohen <ncohen12@HOME.COM>]

Dear Radsafers,

All nuclear plants that employ once-through cooling systems (thus do NOT have cooling towers) kill marine life.

If you check the NIRS website, www.nirs.org, about halfway down the page is a link to their report "Licensed To Kill",

(co-authored by the Humane Society), that details the environmental effects of once-through cooling on the environment.  (I'm

quoted in parts of the Salem chapters).



Most of the fish and other marine life killed are the little critters that get through the intake screens and are then cooked

to death. Thus, at Salem Units 1 and 2, both PSE&G and the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimate the fishkill in the 100s of

millions, but they are mostly talking about fish like bay anchovy. If you add the additional marine life at the bottom of the

food chain, the numbers of dead fish and other marine organisms is in the billions.



These fishkills are in violation of the spirit if not the letter of the law: the Clean Water Act Section 316(b).



Fishkills of the type you are talking about, mature fish, do happen occasionally, usually when a nuke plant goes off-line and

thus the warm marine environment at the outfall pipes disappears. In fact, just this week, Oyster Creek went off line, and is

still offline, for electrical repairs. There was a massive fishkill in Oyster Creek (reported by eyewitnesses, if you don't

trust me).



I'm not that familiar with Indian Point, though I know that IP uses the same once through system as Salem.



For states like NJ and NY, the US EPA has given 316(b) enforcement powers to the State Department of Environmental Protection.

In both NY and NJ, the state's DEP cut a deal with the nuclear company so that the company could avoid building cooling

towers. In NJ PSEG is rebuilding supposedly degraded wetlands. In NY, there was a different deal.



Hope this explanation helps.



Peace,

Norm



DWhitfil@KDHE.STATE.KS.US wrote:



> Well I'd hate to ask them how this compares to other fish kills that occur

> throughout the year around the US. Oh... <slap>... I can't resort to that

> logic thing here can I?

>

> M







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