Volume 5
Fourth Session
September 19-21, 1972
Chicago, Illinois
ILLINOIS
CONFERENCE
Pollution of Lake Michigan
and its Tributary Basin,
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
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FOURTH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE
IN THE MATTER OF POLLUTION OF LAKE MICHIGAN
AND ITS TRIBUTARY BASIN
IN THE STATES OF
WISCONSIN, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, AND MICHIGAN
VOLUME III
(Part 3 of 3 Parts)
Bal Tabarin Room
Sherman House
Chicago, Illinois
September 21, 1972
dronmeatel Protection /,
&••,--a V, Library
§b '> "h U-earborn Strsr-v
go, minoig socrty
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ECTIONA-
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750a
4
W. Pipes
the second ±s Dr. Verduin, who has, a class of young ecologistsi
to teach in the morning, and my experience over the last 2
years is that we are badly in need of well trained young
ecologists.
with that preface, I wilJL ask Dr. Pipes to begin
I with his presentation.
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STATEMENT OF DR. WESLEY 0. PIPES,
PROFESSOR OF CIVIL ENGINEERING,
AND PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES,
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY,
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS
DR. PIPES: Before I start, I would like to say
that I am just as proud as I can be of Eileen Johnston.
She is one of my neighbors at Wilmjette, and she is also
known as the "sixth member" of thei Water Pollution Control
Board. (Laughter) She attends ail their meetings.
Mr. McDonald asked a question earlier about who is
checking on the surveillance people. Eileen is checking on
us; she is also checking on the Illinois Board; and she is
checking on the Illinois EPA, and I think she does a won-
derful job of that.
MR. McDONALD: Well, I know Eileen is placed in a
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1 W. Pipes
2 very unfortunate position because that makes the Board
without a majority* I don't know how David Currie is going
4 to react to that. I am sure they will have a lot of three-
5 to-three votes now. (Laughter)
!
6 DR. PIPES: Do the members of the conference have
7 copies of the testimony that was submitted on Tuesday to
i
fcj the EPA? Has this been distributed? There are some extra
9 copies of the prepared testimony.
10 MR. BRYSON: These were distributed to the con-
i
i
11 ferees. There should be a package somewhere in that forest
12 on their desk.
13 DR. PIPES: Mr. Chairman, members of the confer-
14 ence, ladies and gentlemen. I last testified before this
15 conference in September 1970. Since my curriculum vitae
16 was made a part of the record of this conference at that
17 time, I will not further burden the record with my personal
18 history other than to state that I am still a Professor of
19 Civil Engineering and a Professor of Biological Sciences at
20 Northwestern University, and that I am still a consultant to
21 Commonwealth Edison Company.
22 The thrust of my testimony in 1970 was that,
although there was no proof that the condenser cooling
water discharge from any powerplant into Lake Michigan had
^ caused pollution, enough questions had been raised about
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______________________ _________________ _ ________ 752
W. Pipes
mechanisms by which such discharges might cause pollution,
that it behooved the Enforcement Conference to take a con-
servative approach to recommending temperature standards
for Lake Michigan. The conservative approach which I sug-
^ j| gestea a. a 1970 was to allow a limited number of condenser
i
j
7 ji cooling water discharges to Lake Michigan and to require
!j
$ j that these discharges be studied intensively to determine
, j
,- !' if any did cause pollution.
Today I am here to discuss with you some of the
11
12
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
studies which have been carried out, which are presently
under way, or which are planned for the Waukegan-Zion area
of Lake Michigan. This is the area of the lake which has
received the condenser cooling water discharge from Waukegan
generating station for almost 50 years now and which will
receive the condenser cooling water discharge from Zion
Station when it goes into operation.
I am not going to report either that we have found
proof of pollution due to the discharge from Waukegan station
or that we have found proof that the discharges in question
will not cause pollution in the future. The overall picture
22 i! of our experience to date is that we have learned a great
23 j deal about the environment in this part of Lake Michigan
24 and we have tested a number of the mechanisms by which
i
, !
25 jj induced water temperature changes might cause pollutional
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753
W. Pipes
2 effects and, as a result, are somewhat more confident that
such pollutional effects are not occurring and will not
occur. However, in 1970 we were talking about possible
long-term effects (some of the government witnesses were
actually talking about effects which they thought might occur
by the year 2000) and about studies of 1- to 5-years
duration. Obviously we have not completed any 5-year
studies since 1970 and obviously we have not studied the
Zion Station discharge itself since that plant is not yet
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
in operation.
In 1970, I submitted a document for the record
which was entitled "Study Plan for Determination of Thermal
Effects in Southwest Lake Michigan." This document described
the general approach and rationale of the studies and pre-
sented the plans for eight projects which were then either
under way or contemplated.
I requested comments on the Study Plan related
to the questions which we were investigating and the methods
which we were using. Early in 1971 we received comments on
the Study Plan from Drs. Mount, Tarzwell, and Powers of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Dr. Linduska of
the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the
Interior. We found many of these comments quite helpful
in modifying some of the projects and in developing new
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734
W. Pipes
projects.
I do believe that it would be wise for the con-
ference to create a more permanent group of scientific
representatives of Federal and State agencies to be concerned
with the studies of condenser cooling water discharges to
7 Lake Michigan. Such a group meeting periodically could
greatly facilitate the flow of information between the con-
9 ! cerned governmental agencies and those of us who are in-
10 volved in seeing that the studies are carried out and that
I
11 | the data collected are properly analyzed and interpreted.
i
12 ! I would now like to present the Study Plans which
13 have been developed for Projects IX through XVII of the
14 studies of the Waukegan-Zion area of Lake Michigan. Again,
1$ we would like to request official (and unofficial) comments
16 about these plans and the methodologies which are being
17 used.
13 Projects IX through XVII are written up in the same
19 format which was used for the projects included in the 1970
20 Study Plan and the entire series of projects represents a
21 continuing development. Some of the projects have been
22 completed, some are currently under way and some have not
23 yet been initiated. For ease in obtaining an overall
24 perspective of the projects I have included Table I with
this statement. (See p. 755) This table gives the starting
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W. Pipes
date for the various projects and indicates the expected
duration.
Although this is not in the prepared testimony,
I would like to insert a figure here, since Mr. Coraey
brought up the question of the funding of Study Plans. I
7 am informed by Commonwealth Edison Company that the studies
that have been carried out on Lake Michigan over the last
3 years — essentially starting early in 1970 — according
10 to the present time have been running at a rate of $1.$
million per year involved in studies in monitoring work in
this area of the lake.
Now, in this table I have also included Project
XVIII, which will be a study to define the location, extent,
and area of the actual discharge plume from Zion Station.
Preparation of the Study Plan for this project was started
in August 1972 and we will have the Study Plan developed
and equipment ready before the end of the year. This
project is included in the table because we would very much
like to have input to the development of the Study Plan from
all interested agencies.
22 '
In the role of consultant to Commonwealth Edison
23
Company, I have been concerned with studies of condenser
24
the University of Michigan and Dr. Donald W. Pritchard of
cooling water discharges since 196$. Dr. John C. Ayers of
25 ''
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W» Pipes
The Johns Hopkins University started consulting with Common-
wealth Edison Company in 19&9. Dr. Edward R. Raney of
Cornell. University (now emeritus), Dr. G. Fred Lee of the
University of Wisconsin, and Dr. Andrew Robertson of Okla-
homa University (now with the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration) started consulting on the studies in
1970. Dr. Donald C. McNaught of the State University of
9 New York at Albany was added to the group of consultants
10 ! in 1971 and Dr. Jacob Verduin of Southern Illinois Univer-
I
11 sity in 1972.
12 Although brief studies of the Waukegan-Zion area
13 of Lake Michigan were supported by Commonwealth Edison
14 Company in 196£ and in 1969, the intensive study related to
1$ condenser cooling water discharges in this area now repre-
16 sents about 2-1/2 years of effort. During this period, we
17 have successfully completed some projects and we have also
had some disappointments. We have found that in some in-
stances it was necessary to develop new methodologies or
2(-) new equipment in order to get at the questions we wanted to
21 answer. (We have also lost a fair amount of sampling equip-
ment in Lake Michigan and I hope that the Enforcement Con-
^ ference will not consider these additions to the lake sedi-
ment to be pollutional effects.) I would like to comment
? c
briefly on some of our disappointments, some of our changes
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1 W. Pipes
2 in methodology, and some of the positive results we have
3 obtained.
4 One of our biggest disappointments was Project IV,
5 the laboratory study of fish physiology. In this study, we
\
6 | were able to verify the Harvard Law of Animal Behavior
i
7 which states that: "When held under carefully controlled
$ laboratory conditions, organisms do as they damn well
9 please." Actually, what we found is that it requires a
10 talented fish culturist to keep many species of fish alive
11 | in the laboratory and that in our project excessive mortality
12 among the control group prevented us from carrying out a
13 sufficient number of valid experiments to achieve our ob-
14 jectives. We also discovered that the laboratory method-
15 ology for determining some of the physiological responses
16 (particularly changes in haematology) are inadequate for
17 our purposes. As a result of our experiences with this
1° project, we completely revised the Study Plan and greatly
19 modified the laboratory, design of new equipment, and
20 installation and testing of the equipment. The design of
21 new equipment, and the installation and testing of this
22 !
equipment took a good part of 1971. The new laboratory
23
study with fish (Project XII) is presently under way, but
the results have not yet been evaluated. Dr. Raney will
25
present to you some additional material which relates
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W. Pipes
especially to the Zion type of high velocity discharge.
Our intake-discharge study at Waukegan Station to
determine the effects of condenser passage on the zooplankton
population has been quite successful. Initially we dis-
5 j! covered that small sampling pumps and drift nets tended to
11
7 mash up many of the zooplankters. We tried several modifi-
# j. cations of the sampling techniques in order to avoid this
o, j mechanical damage during sampling. Our techniques improved
10 over a period of months and ultimately resulted in the
| j
11 development of an isokinetic sampling pump which treats the
i
i
12 zooplankters very gently. Dr. McNaught will discuss some
13 { of these results describing thermal effects and mechanical
14 effects on zooplankton passing through the condensers.
15 Our phytoplankton sampling program has resulted in
16 the collection of a large number of data on the numbers of
17 algae which occur in this part of the lake. This year we
have adopted a technique developed by Dr. Verduin which allow,
19 us to estimate phytoplankton biomass as well as obtain counts
I
20 j of the various species present. We expect that this tech-
i
21 | nique will allow us to develop better quantitative relation-
22 ships between phytoplankton populations and other environ-
23 mental factors. Dr. Verduin will describe some of the
i
24 information we have been able to derive from our previous
25 phytoplankton sampling projects.
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W. Pipes
2 We have also accumulated large amounts of data on
3 the chemical substances and physical conditions in the
Waukegan-Zion area of the lake. Dr, Lee will discuss some
of the conclusions he has reached about the chemical sub-
stances, especially as they relate to the effect a cooling
7 tower would have on water quality. While it is not part of
our study program, Commonwealth Edison gave you cost
estimates on cooling towers in 1970, and I understand that
10 Mr. Butler will reappear at this session to update that
11 material. Shortly after I finish, Dr. D. W. Pritchard
12 will discuss some of the often misunderstood physical con-
13 ditions in the lake, both existing and as expected after
14 Zion begins operation.
15 Earlier in this statement, I stated that we have
16 learned a great deal about the environment in that part of
17 Lake Michigan which borders the Zion-Waukegan area. I
would like to elaborate in a general way on this topic.
19 Lake Michigan is a very large lake and its large-
20 ness alone requires a massive data collection effort to
21 characterize the environment. However, there is very little
habitat diversity in the area we are studying. The benthic
3 community does vary with depth but the components of the
benthic community are much the same at all the depths we
OC
' have studied. The variation is in the total community and
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W. Pipes
in the relative abundances of the different components. There
are rare pockets of different types of sediment but usually
the variation is continuous without large discontinuities.
Likewise the organisms making up the plankton communities
are essentially the same throughout our study area. The
counts and the relative abundances of specific components
of these populations do change in a rather "patchy" manner
9 with depth and with the season of the year, but we are deal-
10 ing with the same community in all parts of the area. The
11 fish appear to be free to select the particular location
12 which is dictated by their behavioral pattern at a particular
13 season of the year without being blocked off from any loca-
14 tion in this area. The periphyton community is present only
15 in shallow water where there are suitable substrates and the
16 area available for its growth is very limited in relation to
17 the total study area. The chemical substances dissolved in
IB the water vary from the shore outward as would be expected
19 since the shore receives land runoff and the discharges
20 from some cities and industries; however, the variation is
21 continuous without any large discontinuities,
22 What I am saying is that it really is just one big
23 lake and a lake with continuous rather than discontinuous
i
11
24 variation in the chemical and biotic components of the
25 ecosystem. Throughout the study area we are dealing with the
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•^ W. Pipes
2 same components. We have found no evidence to support the
o hypothesis that there is a distinct "beach water zone" at
i
i I depths less than 30 feet separable from the rest of the lake
^ i
c nor to support the hypothesis that there is an "inshore
6 zone" at depths less than 100 feet. An understanding that
y the water depth is only one factor interacting with a large
number of other environmental factors to determine the nature
of the ecosystem is thus one of the general propositions our
10 studies have affirmed. The witnesses who follow me will
elaborate on several of those factors.
12 ! Now, if I could make a small addition. We were
13 very pleased to have Mr. Barber's laundry list of concerns
14 this morning. We have been asking for input and information
15 ! of this type for some time — for 2 years, I would say.
16 And we greet these concerns as hypotheses describing
17 mechanisms about how these dischargers or about how the
18 powerplants might cause damage to the lake's ecology; and
19 treating them as hypotheses, they can be treated in a
20 scientific manner.
21 j Actually six of the seven witnesses who follow me
22 with their prepared testimony will describe studies which
23 relate to many of the concerns which Mr. Barber expressed
24 this morning.
i/fe have been trying for this period of time really
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W. Pipes
to get input or to try to get ideas from the Federal agencies
and from the State agencies about the type of things which
should be studied and which should be monitored out here.
We have made several requests for comments for some type of
scientific group that we could talk to about our studies
, i
7 I; and report our findings to and go over the data with them.
Last year, in the summer of 1971, a group of us
made two trips into Washington to talk with people in the
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
21
00
3
^
Federal EPA, talking through Mr, Quarles. We met both times
in Mr. Quarles1 office and met with him briefly one time,
and met with Dr. Everett, a member of his staff.
At one of these meetings in Washington, I remember
Mr, Barber was present at the meeting which ran over an
hour's time, and at that time we were talking about the
things that we should study. Mr, Barber has very little to
say about the type of things we should study. This was in
the summer of 1971. And we have continually asked for
information about the type of thing we should be studying
and the methodology we should be using.
I think that Mr, McDonald's question which he
raised about a mechanism of who was going to make an over-
all evaluation, who is going to take a look at the lake,
is a very important question, and I think it is a mechanism
^ that should be established so we have really somebody to
-------
764
W. Pipes
talk with about what we are doing and the data we are
getting.
MR. MAYO: Are there any questions or comments,
gentlemen?
MR. BRYSON: Yes, I have a few comments and ques-
tions.
On page 10 of your statement, there is a rather
lengthy laundry list of projects that are under way or con-
10 templated or in various stages of completeness.
11 What is the general availability of the data
12 gathered from these studies? How much has been released
13 to the general public, or is generally available?
14 I DR. PIPES: Well, in answer to your question: I
15 would cite the document that the EPA made available at this
16 conference, the review document that was prepared by
17 Argonne Laboratory under contract with the Federal EPA.
There are 135 references cited in that document and out of
those 135, 13 of them are based on data which we have
20 collected in these studies.
21 MR. BRYSON: Have those 13 been made generally
oo I
available? The Argonne report is a summary document that
23
J hits the high points.
DR. PIPES: Well, yes, the data from these studies
25 '
have been made generally available. We have not spent a
-------
765
1 W. Pipes
2 great deal of time as yet preparing fancy reports, final
2 publications on these; but the information is generally
4 available to various scientific groups.
5 For instance, on Project XII — pardon me —
6 Project IX, a field sampling program, the group who has
7 || been carrying out this study} has participated in the
8 j deliberations of the Lake Michigan Study Commission of the
9 Great Lakes Fisheries Commission the last 2 years,and reported
10 to that group about their finding. I talked with the fellow
11 who was in charge of this project last week and he told me
12 ! that he gets calls from the Great Lakes Fisheries Commis-
13 sion on the average of about once every 2 weeks asking what
14 kind of information he is getting, what kind of data he is
jl
15 collecting on the fisheries up there.
16 And so in terms of its availability to the
17 scientific community and for examination and interpretation
of data, I think this has been very good.
19 MR. BRYSON: With respect to the study outlines and
20 the comments by Federal agencies, if my memory serves me
21 correctly, has not Dr. Mount of the National Water Quality
Laboratory met with you a couple of times to go over study
outlines and general details of desirable studies?
DR. PIPES: We had a good deal of correspondence
2 5 with Dr. Mount in the winter of 1970-1971 and the spring of
-------
766
W. Pipes
1971» and found his comments very helpful, and he helped us
a great deal in giving us guidance and technology on the
things we should be studying.
5 We haven't really had much communication with him
i
6 l! since the summer of 1971.
7 ! MR. BRYSON: I was under the impression that there
' i
8 have been some exchanges of information between yourself
9 i and Dr. Mount.
10 DR. PIPES: There, I believe, have been some ex-
11 { changes of data information between some of the people
12 j involved in actually carrying out the study and some of the
13 personnel in his laboratory, but we haven't been getting any
14 kind of official communication from him.
15 MR. BRISON: I was also under the impression that
16 subsequent to your Washington meeting with Mr. Quarles and
17 Dr. Everett of Mr. Quarles' staff, that there was some com-
munication back and forth between the two of you and that
19 it was left subsequent to that communication that you would
get back to Dr. Everett with some of the revised study out-
lines, and that he was awaiting for the receipt of that
information.
DR. PIPES: Well, quite recently this is true.
In August of 1971 — just last month — we received some
25
' additional comments and requests for additional Study Plans
-------
76?
W. Pipes
from Dr. Everett of his office to supply these, and I under-
stand there is a Dr. McErlean who is now working in his
office. I was able to meet Dr. McErlean yesterday here
and caat with him briefly, and from my conversation with him
I understand there is an intention to establish some type
of continuing relationship with him so we can supply him
with information about what we are doing and get comments
9 from him.
10 MR. BRI30N: I have one final question. On page
11 8 of your statement, the first sentence in the last para-
12 graph — can you elaborate in greater detail on what you mean
13 by that statement? That is page 8, the first sentence of the
14 last paragraph that reads: "What I am saying is that it
15 really is just one big lake and a lake with continuous rather
16 than discontinuous variation in the chemical and biotic
17 components of the ecosystem."
DR. PIPES: Well, I think I would have to agree
19 that I probably got a little over-enthusiastic when I wrote
20 that particular sentence.
21 The study area that we have been concerned with
is the Waukegan-Zion area of Lake Michigan, and we have gone
23 something in the neighborhood of about 6 miles in either
direction down the shore and roughly 6 miles out in the lake
' in our sampling program, and my comments should really be
-------
768
1 W. Pipes
2 confined to this area of sampling which we have been in-
3 volved in.
4 I understand that the conferees heard some reports,
5 information on algal forms on Tuesday, which showed a con-
6 siderable difference between inshore and offshore forms,
7 l| Although I wasn't here to hear Dr. Stoermer's presentation,
& my understanding is — in his terminology talking about
i
9 inshore and offshore — he was going back to perhaps the
10 older terminology. This has been a terminology used in
Lake Huron and Lake Michigan going back some decades between
inshore samples and offshore samples, and the usage tradi-
13 tionally has been related to a distance of 10 miles from
the shore.
In other words, any sample collected more than 10
miles from the shore was considered to be an offshore sample.
Any sample collected less than 10 miles from shore was
considered to be an inshore sample.
1Q
7 I think there is perhaps some scientific basis for
this type of a designation between offshore and inshore
21
sampling.
22
The argument here is related to the inshore
23
existence — well, the geologists call this a littoral shelf
24
that is formed by certain geological processes when the lake
25
is formed. There is offshore in the southern basin of Lake
-------
769
W. Pipes
Michigan at a depth somewhere like 250 or 300 feet a ridge
that shows up on the contour and this is roughly 10 miles
from shore.
Some of the older literature — some of the
6 | 19th century literature interprets this as being the edge
of the littoral shelf, and I think this is where the 10-
mile inshore-offshore idea came from. That is the best I
can tell. Some of the more recent geological interpreta-
10 tions tend to indicate that this ridge may even be caused
11 by the existence of another lake — Lake Chippewa — some
12 several thousand years ago. It may not have been related
13 to the formation of the littoral shelf at all.
14 In Hutchinson's book — Hutchinson's "Treatise on
15 Limnology" — he has quite a discussion on the formation of
16 the littoral shelf, and he cites Lake Michigan as an example
17 of a lake which has an extremely wide littoral shelf.
Well, anyway — I am wandering here — the point I
19 am trying to get at is: There was an older usage of "on-
20 shore" and "offshore" and "inshore" samples which was 10
21 miles from the shoreline. Now, this definition was picked
22 up by the Public Health Service and the Great Lakes Illinois
23 River Basin Project, and they used this designation in their
sampling program.
25 in 1970, the group from the Department of Interior
-------
770
W. Pipes
who prepared the "white paper" — "Physical and Ecological
Effects of Waste Heat on Lake Michigan" — for some reason
came up with a different definition of "inshore zone" and
"beachwater zone," for which we haven't been able to find
any historical precedent, and our studies since that time
7 have been related to trying to test this as a hypothesis.
You can consider any definition to be a hypothesis. We can
hypohesize that there is an inshore zone at 100 foot depth,
10 and what I am saying here is that we really found no data
11 to substantiate this hypothesis.
12 MR. McDONALD: Dr. Pipes, I would say — you say
13 that your enthusiasm got the better of you — I think one
14 of the points we have been developing here today is that it
15 is one big lake, and if your enthusiasm got the better of you
16 I think that was a good move.
17 DR. PIPES: Good.
IS MR. McDONALD: What do you think is the most
19 significant piece of information that has come to your
20 attention regarding these problems since the spring of
21 1971 session of the conference?
22 DR. PIPES: The most significant single piece of
23 information?
MR. McDONALD: Is there an outstanding piece of
information that you would identify to support the Illinois
-------
771_
W. Pipes
position?
DR. PIPES: Well, we have an awful lot of pieces
of information. I really don't carry all of the conclusions
of all these studies around in my head; it would be very
6 difficult for me to make a selection from the available —
7 MR. McDONALD: Well, I bring it up in this cori-
8 j text. This morning we asked Mr. Bryson if he thought there
was anything really new on the basis of the Argonne informa-
10 tion. He indicated that there was nothing outstandingly
li new.
12 I And in that Argonne summary there is some — what?
— 13 pieces of information from your studies, and I am
14 wondering if Mr. Bryson was on target with this, or if you
I
15 would in any way change that?
16 DR. PIPES: Well, this is really not the way that
17 science usually progresses. It normally is a long-term pro-
cess of accumulating a great many bits and pieces of
19 information, and of testing a great many hypotheses.
And we have looked at this, looked at many things. One of
the more interesting things that I might throw out — althoug
we are still in the process really of analyzing the data —-
^ there is a study there which is described as a study on
2L
* the spring thermal bar, which was carried out in March,
^ April, and May. There have been a good many allegations and
-------
772
W. Pipes
questions about this being some kind of a barrier to mixing,
o And we collected a great deal of data last spring. As I
A say, we are still very much in the process of analyzing this
5 data. I imagine this could be a few months before we have
the things fully put together; although, again, most of the
data is available to the people who are scientifically
g interested in looking at it.
9 I think that some of our spot checks on data show
10 that we have, I think, pretty clear evidence that the thermal
11 bar is no barrier whatsoever to the advection of heat from
12 the shoreward side and the offshore side of the bar. And
13 so there is a question coming up in many respects in terms
14 of the water quality matters of Lake Michigan. I really
I
15 think I think of this because I have been looking at those
16 data most intensively quite recently.
17 MR. MAYO: If there are no other questions,
IB gentlemen, thank you, Dr. Pipes.
19 MR. FELDMAN: Dr. Verduin is next, Mr. Mayo.
20 MR. MAYO: May I presume that, for purposes of
21 the record, we would have the study that Dr. Pipes presented
22 to us introduced as an exhibit?
23 MR. FELDMAN: Would you please?
24 Document, "Evaluation of Thermal Effects in South-
25 western Lake Michigan, January 1970—April 1971" is on file
at U.S. EPA Headquarters, Washington, D.C., and Region V
-------
2
3
4
5
6
7
&
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
23
773
J. Verduin
Office, Chicago, Illinois.
MR. FELDMAN: I might say that Dr. Verduin's
piece is the first of a series which will present new data.
I suppose that the conferees have to arrive at their own
conclusion about the significance of the new data.
STATEMENT OF DR. JACOB VERDUIN,
PROFESSOR OF BOTANY,
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY,
CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS
DR. VERDUIN: My name is Jacob Verduin. I am a
Professor of Botany at Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale, Illinois. I obtained a Master of Science and a
Doctor of Philosophy Degrees in Plant Physiology under the
direction of Dr. W. E. Loomis at Iowa State University at
Ames. In 194&, I joined the staff of the Franz Theodore
Stone Institute of Hydrobiology at Put-in-Bay, Ohio. This
is a station of The Ohio State University, and is located
on South Bass Island in western Lake Erie. I have continued
an active research program in the Great Lakes ever since
that time.
I was one of the first to point out the spectacular
increase (450$) in phosphorus concentrations which occurred
-------
774
, J. Verduin
2 in western Lake Erie between 194$ and 1955* I am convinced
o that this is the singlemost important factor in the undesir-
i able enrichment that Lake Erie has experienced during the
c past 20 years. A twofold increase in phytoplankton photo-
synthesis was correlated with this increase in phosphorus,
7 and I have continued to monitor the photosynthetic rate in
western Lake Erie every summer. During the past summer, two
of my graduate students worked on this project, pursuant to
10 &n Environmental Protection Agency Training Grant in Aquatic
Ecology which I administer through Southern Illinois
12 University.
13 I have a mobile limnological laboratory (a pontoon-
14 tyP6 houseboat) which is now based at Memphis, Tennessee,
15 where we will investigate the effect of Memphis discharges
16 on the Mississippi River. This mobile laboratory was con-
17 structed with the aid of a National Science Foundation
IB Grant (1967) and it is subsidized partly by the same EPA
19 Training Grant that I mentioned previously.
20 During the last 2 weeks of August just past (1972),
21 I carried out a study of photosynthetic rates in Lake
i
i
22 Superior, on board the University of Michigan research ship
23 "Inland Seas." I also spent 6 weeks on board that ship in
24 1969, studying both Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
25 During the summer of 1971, I traveled from Chicago
-------
n 775
j_ J. Verduin
2 to Hamburg, Germany, and returned to compare photosynthetic
o rates in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and the
2j. Atlantic Ocean. The diatoms collected on this trip are now
5 being identified and their biomass is being calculated by
6 a graduate student at Southern Illinois University.
7 I have published 47 papers during the past 26
years on various aspects of aquatic ecology and plant
9 physiology.
10 My testimony today concerns the phytoplankton data
11 gathered by Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories in the Zion and
12 Waukegan areas, as they relate to the concept of changes
13 between nearshore and offshore areas in western Lake
14 I Michigan. I will confine my remarks today primarily to
15 data gathered between May 1970 and March 1971, which are
16 contained in a Bio-Test Report prepared by J. M. Piala. The
17 data are less complete than will be available for the 1971-
1972 studies, but they appear sufficient to support some
19 tentative conclusions. This study included monitoring the
20 phytoplankton at three locations one-half mile from shore
21 I (Waukegan, Zion, and Dead River) and at one location 6
22 miles offshore from the Zion station. The three inshore
23 stations represent waters from the so-called "inshore" zone
and the 6-mile station is within the zone designated by
some as "open water."
-------
776
J. Verduin
When the three "nearshore11 zone stations are com-
pared, it is evident that their average phytoplankton popu-
lations are closely similar both in the level of population
5 and in the species composition. There is one minor exception
6 to this statement: The Waukegan station showed a slightly
7 ! higher (10 to 20 percent) average phytoplankton population
than the other two nearshore stations. This statistic prob-
9 ably reflects nutrient enrichment from the city of Waukegan,
10 However, when the average phytoplankton data from
11 the three nearshore stations are compared with the 6-mile
12 offshore Zion station, a large difference is evident. I have
i
j
13 prepared a graph to demonstrate this comparison. (See
14 Figure 1, p. 777) In this graph, I have combined the data
15 from the three nearshore stations into a single curve for
16 comparison with the data from the 6-mile station. The
17 graph shows two interesting features:
1$ 1. The nearshore populations show their highest
19 values during winter and early spring, and their lowest
20 values are observed during the periods of warmest temper-
21 ature (August to September).
22 2. The nearshore stations are about threefold
23 higher in phytoplankton population during the winter and
24 spring than the 6-mile station, but when the low values are
observed in August and September, the nearshore and the
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77S
J. Verduin
6-mile station data are practically identical. I should say,
also, that a threefold difference is less than some have
projected and certainly does not indicate that the offshore
area is incapable of supporting productive growth. Based
on my experience elsewhere, I had expected, in fact, that
7 !| there would be about a sixfold difference. Furthermore,
although the Figure 1 curves do not show it, the species
composition shows the same kind of convergence in August
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
IB
19
20
21
and September as is evident in the population levels of
Figure 1. The fact that a threefold difference in phyto-
plankton population is established between the nearshore
and the 6-mile station during winter and spring suggests
that the nearshore area has a higher nutrient supply and
greater energy supply per unit of water volume available,
so as to allow a higher population to develop. During
August and September, relative nutrient supply is so nearly
the same at the five stations that the phytoplankton popu-
lation levels converge. Indeed we could reasonably say
that the distinction between nearshore and offshore areas is
obliterated under these conditions.
op
1 Given these data, what kinds of conclusions can
23
often raised in discussions of Lake Michigan, but sometimes
one draw? I should like to examine briefly two questions
24
25
misunderstood or misused. The two questions relate to the
-------
779
1 J. Verduin
2 rate of exchange of nearshore and open waters and relative
3 productivity of those waters. The first question I would
4 I like to examine is this; What kind of mixing rates are
5 present, when a threefold higher population is found in the
6 nearshore zone? To discuss this question, I wish to intro-.
7 duce the concept of "Mean Residence Time," and I will phrase
8 the question in this way: "How long does a parcel of water
9 take to move from the nearshore area to those 5 miles off-
10 shore?"
11 | Let me discuss briefly here the situation that
12 | prevails in western Lake Erie, because we know the average
13 residence time in the western basin and we have compared
14 the waters in lower Lake Huron with the waters of western
i
15 Lake Erie. As the waters from Huron enter Lake Erie they
16 experience an eightfold increase in phytoplankton popula-
17 tion and they experience an almost total displacement in
major species composition, and this is accomplished during
19 a residence time of 2 months. Consequently, I believe that
if the average residence time in the nearshore area of
western Lake Michigan were as long as 2 months, then we
22 would find a similarly spectacular difference both in popu-
lation level and in species composition there. Because the
"
population differences are smaller and because the species
2 ^ composition in the nearshore area and the 6-mile station are
-------
730
J. Verduin
2 closely similar, the mean residence time in the nearshore
3 must be considerably less than 2 months,
J
Studies of the generation time in inshore zones
5 and in western Lake Erie have shown that a doubling of a
6 phytoplankton population occurs in about 1 week, compared
to a 3- to 5-week generation time in offshore waters. If
doubling of a population occurs in 1 week, then a threefold
9 difference in phytoplankton could arise in a period of less
10 than 2 weeks. Therefore, on the basis of these considera-
11 tions, I would like to estimate the mean residence time in
12 the nearshore area of western Lake Michigan during the
13 periods when a threefold distinction is observed between
i
14 nearshore and the 6-mile station populations. I estimate
15 that this mean residence time is less than 2 weeks.
16 Finally, I wish to comment on phytoplankton pro-
17 ductivity in the nearshore as compared to a zone several
miles from shore. There is a concept, rather widely accepted
19 that the nearshore zone is considerably more productive than
20 the areas farther offshore. In the case of the area we are
21 j considering here it is obvious that during much of the year
I
22 the nearshore has a phytoplankton concentration about three-
fold higher than the zone 6 miles offshore. This means that
a small fish, or a given zooplankter, grazing nearshore,
5 will need to expend only one-third as much effort to graze
-------
731
J. Verduin
his fill as would such an organism in the 6-mile zone.
However, this is not a result of greater phytoplankton pro-
ductivity, but a result of a higher population density per
unit volume. When we consider total phytoplankton produc-
tivity it is necessary to express production, not in terms of
a unit of water volume but, in terms of an integrated value
that contains a summation of all the water in the vertical
column. This fact has been recognized by most limnologists
10 and oceanographers. Consequently, they usually express
11 phytoplankton productivity in terms of yield per square
12 meter of water surface. During the summer of 1969, I made
13 such computations from my Lake Michigan data. We repeatedly
14 occupied two stations, one about one-half mile from shore
15 and another about 5 miles offshore, near Grand Haven,
16 Michigan, The yields were expressed as millimoles of carbon
17 dioxide fixed per square meter per day. The comparison
13 revealed the following -result:
19 Table 1, Comparison of Inshore and Offshore
Phytoplankton Photosynthesis in Lake
20 Michigan (Millimoles/M Day)
21 Inshore (1/2 mile) Offshore (5 miles)
22 200 280
23 This comparison reveals that the 5-mile station
24 actually had a higher yield per square meter than the station
25 one-half mile from shore. This is a result of the fact that
-------
732
J. Verduin
we were integrating the yield from a considerably longer
vertical water column at the 5-mile offshore station. Notice
however, that this is a realistic situation. The organisms
5 that live on the bottom at a depth of 30 meters of water have
5 i access to all the materials settling out of the 30-meter
7 j column, while those living beneath 5 meters of water have
access only to the materials that settle out of that 5-meter
9 water column.
10 Let me now summarize the principal conclusions in
ll
! j
11 ! this testimony:
i
12 1. The mean residence time of water in the so-
I
13 j called nearshore of western Lake Michigan is relatively
14 [ short — probably less than 2 weeks — and the nearshore
15 j distinction is apparently obliterated during the summer
16 ! months. Therefore the concept of the nearshore as a dis-
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
crete zone that does not exchange with the rest of the lake
is not a valid concept.
2, The phytoplankton productivity in the nearshore
when compared on a unit area basis with offshore productivity
is not higher but may even be somewhat lower than the off-
shore productivity.
Thank you.
MR. MAIO: Any questions or comments, gentlemen?
MR. BRYSON: I do have a couple.
-------
763
1 J. Verduin
2 On page 6, when you are discussing the dynamics
3 between or making a comparison between the dynamics in Lake
4 Michigan and Lake Erie, I have trouble with a concept that
5 the dynamics of both lakes are the same — the western basin
6 of Lake Erie and the nearshore-offshore of Lake Michigan.
7 Can you elaborate somewhat on that, on that
8 comparison?
9 DR. VERDUIN: Well, I am using western Lake Erie
10 as a reference because it is an area in which we have about
11 a 30-foot depth, and we have a known residence time as a
12 result of through-flow information, and we know what happens
13 there. And in comparison of Lake Huron, the water goes from
14 Lake Huron into Lake Erie in just a few days and then it
15 resides there for 2 months and we see these spectacular
16 changes.
17 I think that as far as injections per mile of
1^ shoreline are concerned, they aren't comparable. In other
19 words, I rather doubt if the rivers that flow into Lake
20 Michigan carry a lot less in the way of input thar the
21 rivers that flow into western Lake Erie, you see.
22 MR. BRYSON: You say you doubt they do?
DR. VERDUIN: Yes. I rather think the farming
^ communities of Wisconsin and Illinois, and the cities of
2 ^ Wisconsin and Illinois inject along the shore of Lake
-------
-, J. Verduin
2
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Michigan similar inputs to those that flow from Michigan
o into Lake Erie. I think the main difference between them is
the fact that the water is held in the western basin, and
the injections go in there and the water is held there for
2 months. And if the inshore zone of Lake Michigan were
actually held fairly stable for a period of 2 months, we
would see the same kind of thing in the inshore zone that
we see in Lake Erie.
That is my assumption. That is the assumption on
which this computation is based. And if you don't want to
accept that assumption, then, of course, the computation
also falls apart.
MR. BRISON: How deep were these samples taken at
the half-mile station and at the 6-mile station; and also
how deep was the water at those points?
DR. VERDUIN: Well, the water at the half-mile
station is between 2$ and 35 feet deep, and we have samples
from both surface and depth which show that you cannot detect
a vertical difference in phytoplankton distribution, so it
wouldn't matter whether we took them, from the bottom or the
top; they are the same.
MR. BRYSON: Which was the next question I had.
Is that the case with the 6-mile station also?
DR. VERDUIN: Well, no. At the 6-mile station you
-------
735
J. Verduin
2 do get some vertical differences, but we have both surface
o and depth, and the data are the average of the two. The
points that appear at the 6-mile station are the average of
the two depths. We just averaged them because we thought
they were more representative than either one of them would
be independently.
MR. BRISON: I am not too sure I understand.
9 Page 3 —
10 DR. VERDUIN: Yes.
11 MR. BRISON: — the bottom paragraph, 5 lines up
12 from the bottom, this says: "The organisms that live on
13 the bottom at a depth of 30 meters of water have access to
14 all the materials settling out of the 30-meter column .»."
15 hence you integrated over the full depth.
16 DR. VERDUIN: I am talking there about benthic
17 animals. I am talking about the benthic animal food supply,
which is an integrated supply from a vertical column. This
19 should not be confused with my sampling of the phytoplankton,
20 I am simply saying that integrating the vertical column is
21 a realistic integration, it isn't just an academic exercise.
22 so that when I express phytoplankton productivity as milli-
23 moles per square meter, this is a better way of expressing
24 productivity than millimoles per cubic meter. That is
25 I essentially what I am saying there. And then I also point
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-, J. Verduin
2 out that the organisms on the bottom are all of the time
- integrating their food supply in the same fashion by hatch-
, ing it as it settles from the whole vertical column. The
c only exception to that statement is the poor organism
that has to graze per unit volume and he, of course, has
the big advantage inshore where the concentration per unit
volume is greater.
o, MR. MAYO: Any other questions, gentlemen?
10 Thank you, Dr. Verduin.
i
11 Mr. Currie, I would like to suggest that we con-
12 I sider interrupting the Illinois presentation at this time
13 in order to take a break.
14 MR. CURRIE: That suits me just fine, Mr. Chairman.
1$ MR. MAYO: Pardon?
16 MR. BLASER: Was there going to be another presen~
17 tation in this —
IB MR. CURRIE: Mr. Feldman, I believe —
19 MR. MAYO: Excuse me.
20 Mr. Feldman.
21 MR. FELDMAN: Yes. We have five more people.
|l
22 They are available for as long as the conferees are avail-
23 able. I am told that one can lose a lawsuit by keeping the
24 jury past its dinner hour, and I do not want to run that
25 risk. You people handle it as you wish.
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787
1 J. Verduin
2 MR. MAYO: You had indicated that you had Dr.
3 Pipes and Dr. Verduin who needed to leave.
4 MR. FELDMAN: Right.
5 MR. MAYO: Okay. Then, I would like to acknowledge
6 that that has been accommodated, and I think we should take
7 a break. I would like to get some expression from the
B conferees on what they think would be a reasonable time,
9 and from Mrs, Hall whether she has some suggestions on how
10 long it would take her to recover.
11 MRS. HALL: I'm beyond recovery*
12 MR. MAYO: Let's ask Mr. Feldman how long he
13 thinks it will take?
14 MR. FELDMAN: It is a little hard to estimate
15 Dr. Pritchard's piecej and I think Dr. McNaught and Dr. Lee
16 can probably summarize their material and do it quite
17 quickly. I think the Pritchard thing is already boiled
1# down so that it is hard to understand without being longer.
19 I don't think it can be summarized. Dr. Raney is a direct
20 response to Mr. Barber, and I think you ought to hear that.
21 Mr. Butler is cooling tower costs and not very long, and
22 maybe that could be summarized some. Done that way, it is
23 a minimum of another hour and probably more.
2^- MR. MAYO: A minimum of another hour for Illinois.
25
You have approximately a half hour for
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, J. Verduin
2 Wisconsin, Mr. Frangos?
3 MR. CURRIE: There are several additional Illinois
4 citizens on the Illinois list, Mr. Chairman.
5 MR. MAYO: Any estimate of how much time they
6 would require?
7 MR. CURRIE: Forty minutes.
8 MR. MAYO: We are faced with something in the
9 neighborhood of 2 to 2 and a half hours.
10 MR. MILLER: Two to 2 and a half hours is going
11 to result in about 5 hours before we get through.
12 MR. MAYO: Well, the alternative, gentlemen, is
13 to try to meet tomorrow.
14 MR. MILLER: We can't meet tomorrow.
15 MR. MAYO: I would suggest, then, that we stick
16 I with it, take a break now of a half hour to 45 minutes.
17 I would suggest, gentlemen, we try to finish up this
evening. We will break now and come back at 7:30.
^9 (Short recess.)
20 MR. MAYO: Ladies and gentlemen, I believe Mrs.
Johnston has returned, so it would be appropriate for us to
op
* get back into sessionj
Mr. Feldman.
MR. FELDMAN: Dr. Pritchard is ready, Mr. Mayo.
25 MR. MAYO; Thank you. Dr. Fritchard.
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739
D. Pritchard
STATEMENT OF DR. DONALD W. PRITCHARD,
DIRECTOR, CHESAPEAKE BAY INSTITUTE,
5 ' PROFESSOR OF OCEANOGRAPHY,
6 THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY,
7 BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
8
9 DR. PRITCHARD: Members of the conference and
10 audience, my name is Donald W, Pritchard, I am the Director
11 of the Chesapeake Bay Institute and also Professor of Ocean-
12 ography, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The
13 Johns Hopkins University, I appeared before the conference
14 in 1970.
15 Departing briefly from my prepared statement, I
16 presume that my curriculum vitae that appeared in the record
17 at that time will be a part of the record, and so I donft
have to further qualify myself
19 I would refer just briefly to two aspects of that
20 testimony which the Four-State Conference might again con-
21 sider. Both of these deal with my own long term concern
22 with obtaining information pertinent to management of the
23 environment for the benefit of man; and the second is some
rather extensive testimony dealing with the subject of the
25 large-scale effects of heated discharges versus the small-
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D. Pritchard
scale, local effects of heated discharges, I will not
repeat any of that testimony.
Today I am going to speak about two additional
features. The first concerns mixing and exchange between
6 !! lhe open waters of Lake Michigan and the so*-called "inshore"
7 i zone,
6 i A concept originally set out in the 1970 FWQA "white
paper" postulates that certain zones exist in Lake Michigan
10 i! which have insignificant exchange with the major volume of
11 I the lake. Specifically, the FWQA "white paper" defined two
12
13
14
16
17
19
20
21
23
zones: one, called the beach zone, included all waters
shoreward of the 30-foot depth contour; the second, called
the inshore zone, was defined as extending from the outer
edge of the beach zone to the 100-foot depth contour. These
are quite arbitrary divisions. No physical barrier exists
which would limit the advective transport or turbulent
mixing of waters between the offshore waters of the lake
and the inshore zone, or between the inshore zone and the
beach zone.
There are a number of processes which promote
advective exchange and turbulent mixing between these
artificial zones and the offshore waters of the lake. One
is the motion set up by the direct stress of the wind on
the water surface. The wind stress induces a motion in the
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D« Pritchard
2 surface layers of the lake which, in the offshore waters of
3 the lake, flows in a direction slightly to the right of the
4 wind direction, and at a speed of about 2-1/2 percent of the
5 wind speed. Thus, along the western coastline of the lake,
6 any wind coming from the sector NNW to about ESE would have
7 an onshore component. Surface water from the offshore lake
would pass shoreward past the 100-foot depth contour into
9 and through the inshore zone, and into the so-called beach
10 zone. This flow cannot, of course, continue through the
11 shoreline and, in fact, will not, as a direct advective flow,
12 move all the way to the shore. Continuity is maintained
13 by two processes. Within a few thousand feet of the shore-
14 line the flow turns and runs essentially parallel to the
15 coast, in the direction of the longshore component of the
16 wind. This does not account for all of the surface water
17 which moves into the inshore and beach zones, since the
shoreward directed surface flow is in part compensated for
by an offshore flow of water below the surface layers from
20 the inshore and beach zone out into the offshore lake area.
21 The wind is never uniform in speed and direction along the
22 entire coastline, or even any major segment of the coastline
of the lake. The longshore current in the beach zone induced
by a strong wind in one sector of the lake will dissipate
the move offshore again in regions of weaker winds.
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12
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15
16
17
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20
21
D. Pritchard
A 15-knot wind blowing from the quadrant North to
East would produce an advective flow of offshore lake water
into the inshore zone of about 500,000 c.f.s., over a 10-
mile stretch of coastline. There would be an equivalent flow
out from the inshore zone resulting from the combination of
a subsurface countercurrent, and a return of water flowing
alongshore into the offshore lake area from regions having
lower onshore wind stress.
Similarly, along the western coastline of the lake,
a wind from the sector SSE to about WWW produces a surface
current with an offshore component, which carries water
from the beach zone into the inshore zone, and from the
inshore zone out into the offshore lake area. In this case
there is a compensating subsurface current directed from
the offshore region toward the coast.
Basically the lake, including both the so-called
beach zone and inshore zone, is a dynamic, not a static,
system as implied in the FWQA "white paper." Not only does
the wind induce relatively steady advective flows between
the offshore lake waters and these two zones for short
! '
O O j I
periods (a few hours to a few days), but the periodic
oo
J fluctuations in wind speed and direction produce large
2.L.
* horizontal current shears, and transient eddies which result
25
' in large-scale turbulent exchange of water and of dissolved
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14
15
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793
D. Pritchard
and suspended materials between the beach and inshore zones
and the offshore lake area.
Another mechanism for exchange of water between
the nearshore and offshore areas is one also related to
the wind, but in a more indirect way. During periods of
vertical stratification the wind fluctuations can induce
internal seiches which, in addition to vertical motion in
the layers of maximum vertical density gradient, often pro-
duce an influx of cold water from offshore up over the
inshore shelf region. These massive movements of water
between the offshore lake area and the nearshore shelf
region have been well documented by a number of investiga-
tors, notably Clifford Mortimer* Though such seiche-induced
exchanges between the offshore and nearshore regions of the
lake are aperiodic events (i.e., occurring from time to time
with no set pattern), they do contribute a significant,
though at present an unquantified, addition to the other
modes of exchange.
The shoreline is the source of all of man's
chemical input to the lake, plus the major part of the
natural chemical input via rivers, streams, and surface
runoff. The basic physical laws require that there be a
gradient in concentration of such dissolved and suspended
material from the shoreline outward. Thus the fact that
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794
, D. Pritchard
2 nearshore waters have higher concentrations of dissolved and
suspended material does not imply a lack of exchange of these
waters with the rest of the lake. Based on the chemical
data available, it is possible to make an estimate of the
6 jj mean exchange rate of water in the inshore zone with the
7 I! waters of the offshore lake area. This is accomplished by
ii
comparing the total mass of a given chemical resident in the
inshore zone at any given time with the rate of introduction
10 of that constituent into the lake at the shoreline. Such a
11 j| computation indicates that the long-term exchange of water
12 |i between the inshore zone along the southern half of Lake
13 ij Michigan and the offshore lake area represents a flux of
14
about 1.5 million c.f.s. This represents about 75 times
15 { the volume rate of water usage by all existing powerplants,
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
plus all those now under construction or announced as being
planned, on Lake Michigan.
A much maligned villain in the fantasy of isola-
tion of the inshore zone from the offshore waters of the
lake is the thermal bar. The misconception that the thermal
bar is a barrier which confines the water and all of the
introduced wastes to the shoreward side probably arises
from a misunderstanding of the meaning of the term "bar."
As used in the phrase "thermal bar," the "bar" simply means
an elongated region identified by some readily recognizable
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795
D. Pritchard
feature. In the present case, the identifying feature is
the 4° C, isotherm, the temperature of maximum density for
freshwater. On one side of this isotherm is water which
is colder, and hence less dense, than the 4° C. water* On
6 the other side the water is warmer, and also less dense,
y than the 4° C. water. The use of the term "bar*1 in the
phrase "thermal bar" has a connotation similar to the use
9 of this term in the phrase "oyster bar,*1 which is used to
10 designate elongated oyster beds in tidal estuaries. Depart-
11 ing, sometimes this indicates an elongated table from which
12 one gets fresh oysters.
13 The main point to be made about the thermal bar is
14 that it is a strongly dynamic phenomenon. It is a region
15 of minimum stability and is consequently associated with
16 strong convective stirring. In early springtime the thermal
17 bar forms near shore as the increased solar radiation
increases the temperature of the nearshore waters more
19 rapidly than the deeper offshore waters.
20 j Prior to this warming period, the waters of the
21 lake in the upper 100 feet or so have had temperatures close
22 to 0° C. As the nearshore waters are progressively warmed,
23 there develops a transition region between the shallower
24 waters having temperatures greater than 4° C. and the off~
2 5 shore waters having temperatures less than 4° C. This
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7
o
10
796
D. Pritchard
transition region, or thermal bar, generally moves in an
offshore direction. Even when, for short periods of time,
the bar does not show much movement, turbulent exchange does
occur across this region of minimum stability* When the
thermal bar is in motion it is obvious that the basic prin-
ciple of mass continuity requires a transport of water
through the bar from the offshore area into the nearshore
zone, thus increasing the rate of exchange between nearshore
and offshore waters.
11 ij In late April of 1970 and again in 1971, measure-
J i
12 il ments made off the Zion nuclear powerplant site showed an
!
13 j average rate of movement of the thermal bar in an offshore
i
14 direction past the 100-foot depth contour of about 0.02
15 f.p.s* This corresponds to a transport of water through
16 the bar of about 118,000 c.f.s. for a 10-mile long stretch
17 of the coastline.
13 Thus there are several mechanisms which, though
!9 aperiodic and variable in intensity, when taken together
20 i are more than adequate to provide for the effective 1.5
i
21 | million c.f.s. steady-state exchange rate between the waters
22 of the inshore and beaca zones and the waters of the offshore
23 lake area as estimated from available data on chemical
2^ inputs and concentration distributions.
The second subject I would like to discuss
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D. Pritchard
concerns the winter sinking thermal plume. As indicated in
the previous and my just—completed discussion of the thermal
bar, freshwater has a number of physical properties which
make it a unique fluid, including the fact that the density
of water is maximum at a temperature above the freezing
point. Thus pure water (i.e., water containing no dissolved
solids), which freezes at a temperature of 32° F. (0° C.),
attains maximum density at 39.2° F. (4.0° C.). The temper-
10 ature of maximum density of water decreases as the concen-
11 tration of dissolved solids increases. However, for the
12 range of dissolved solid concentrations found in Lake
13 Michigan, the temperature of maximum density is for all
14 practical purposes the same for lake water as for pure
15 water.
16 Thus the density of lake water decreases as the
17 temperature decreases from 39.2° F. to the freezing point, artel
13 also decreases as the temperature increases from 39.2° F. to
19 the boiling point. The density of water at 39.2° F. is about
t).013 percent greater than the density at 32° F., the
21 freezing point. The density of water at 46.65° F. is the
22 same as the density at 32° F.
23 During wintertime when the temperature of the lake
i
24 water is less than 39.2° F., and often at or near 32° F., a
25 heated effluent with a temperature, say, 20° F. above the
-------
_ 798
D. Pritchard
2 ! lake water temperature will initially be less dense than the
i
o I receiving waters and will spread into the lake as a surface
i
^ || plume. However, as mixing and surface cooling cause the
11
5 temperature of the dispersing thermal plume to decrease, the
6 i density of the plume will increase. When the temperature
7 ! of the plume has been reduced to 46.6° F. or lower (depend-
c, jj ing on the ambient lake temperature) the density of the
9 thermal plume will become just equal to the density of the
10 i ambient lake water. Further decrease in temperature of the
i
11 ij plume due to mixing and cooling results in a plume density
|
12 i! greater than that of the ambient lake waters. If the heated
|i
1> |j effluent is discharged to the lake at low discharge
|
14 | velocities, so that at the point where the density of the
[
15 | thermal plume exceeds the density of the ambient lake watpr
i
16 there is little excess horizontal momentum in the plume,
17 the water in the plume will sink or, more properly, bottom
out, and spread over the oottom as a thin layer of water
19 having temperatures somewhat warmer than the ambient lake
20 water. The rate of mixing of the water in this bottom
21 | thermal plume with the colder lake water is much slower
22 than in the case of a surface plume, and since the warmer
23 plume water is separated from the surface no loss of excess
heat to the atmosphere can occur. Consequently, the area
2 5 covered by the winter sinking plume may be much greater
-------
799
D. Pritchard
than the area covered by the thermal plume during the rest
3 of the year when it remains in the surface layers.
4 If the thermal plume has sufficient excess hori-
5 zontal momentum the sinking plume phenomenon described above
6 will not occur at the point where density of the plume first
7 exceeds the density of the ambient lake waters. Instead,
the plume will continue to spread horizontally, mixing
9 rapidly with the cooler lake waters and losing excess heat
10 by surface cooling, until the excess horizontal momentum
11 has been decreased to some critical value which permits the
12 higher density water of the plume to sink through the cooler
13 ambient lake water and to spread out over the bottom. Thus
14 the temperatures in the sinking plume and in the spreading
15. bottom plume are determined by the excess horizontal
16 momentum (or, simply, the excess horizontal velocity) of
17 the thermal plume. Other things being equal, the higher the
speed of discharge of the heated effluent, the lower the
temperature in the winter plume at which sinking occurs.
Theory is not yet adequate to provide estimates
21 of the value of the excess horizontal velocity at which the
22 sinking plume phenomenon occurs. However, on 29 February
1972 and again on 16 March 1972 Bio-Test made very extensive
field surveys of the thermal plume from the Waukegan power
station. On both these occasions a strongly developed
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___________ _ _ __ aoo
D. Prit chard
sinking plume was observed. Each of these surveys involved
the measurement of the vertical temperature profile at over
L || 140 stations in Lake Michigan waters adjacent to the Waukegan
!
5 J power station. To my knowledge, no other such intense
6 temperature surveys of the winter sinking plume phenomenon
7
3
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
have been carried out.
During the 29 February survey, the ambient lake
temperatures decreased slightly with distance offshore,
being 34° F. at the shoreline, 33° F. at a distance of
between 2,000 and 5,000 feet offshore, and 32° F. at a
distance of between 3,500 and 12,000 feet offshore. The
ambient temperature in the vicinity of the sinking plume was
close to 33° F. The temperature rise across the condenser
in the Waukegan powerplant was 13° F., but because of re-
circulation of some of the plant discharge back into the
intake canal, the temperature of the heated effluent was
about 50° F. , or 17° F. above the ambient lake temperature.
Water at 50° F. is less dense than water at 33° F., and
hence the thermal plume initially extended horizontally out
into the lake from the mouth of the discharge canal.
Because of the small density difference between the thermal
plume and the receiving waters, the rapidly mixing heated
effluent extended from suriace to bottom in the relatively
shallow waters off the Waukegan power station. The density
-------
1 D. Pritchard
2 of the water in the thermal plume became just equal to the
3 density of the 33° F. ambient lake water at the point where
4 the temperature of the thermal plume had decreased to 45.6°
5 F. At plume temperatures less than 45.6° F. the density of
6 the thermal plume should have been greater than the density
7 of the ambient lake water, and conditions favorable for a
# sinking plume should have existed. However, sinking of the
9 plume did not occur until the temperature of the plume had
10 been reduced to about 37° F,
11 On 16 March 1972 the ambient lake temperature in
12 the vicinity of the sinking plume was 32.5° F» As a result
13 of recirculation of some of the heated discharge back into
14 | the intake canal, the temperature of the effluent was about
15 ! 16.5° F. above the ambient lake temperature. In this case,
16 the density of the heated plume would be equal to the
17 density of the 32«5° F. ambient lake water at the point
13 where the temperature of the thermal plume had been reduced
19 to 46,1° F, However, sinking of the thermal plume did not
20 occur until the temperature of the plume had been reduced
21 by mixing and cooling to 39° F.
22 fhe fraction of the 1949 c.f. s. condenser cooling
water flow which was being recirculated on these two occa-
sions is not precisely known. A conservative estimate of
the volume rate of flow of the heated effluent discharged
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aoa
D. Pritchard
to the lake is 1,500 c.f.s., which would result in an excess
horizontal velocity at the point of discharge of the thermal
plume of 3»0 f.p.s. At the po.int in the thermal plume on
29 February where the temperature had been reduced from 50° F
to 37° F., the excess horizontal velocity in the plume would
have been reduced to 0.71 f.p.s. At the point in the thermal
plume on 16 March where the temperature had been reduced
from 49° F. to 39° F., the excess horizontal velocity in the
10 I plume would have been reduced to 1,1$ f.p.s.
i
11 | On the basis of these data it can be concluded
12 |! that in Lake Michigan sinking of the thermal plume will not
13 occur in that part of the plume in which the excess hori-
14 zontal velocity exceeds 1.2 f.p.s.
15 At the Zion nuclear powerplant of Commonwealth
16 Edison Company the speed of the heated effluent at the point
17 of discharge to the lake will be 9.3 f.p.s. The excess
temperature in the thermal plume where the excess horizontal
19 velocity will have been reduced to 1.2 f.p.s. will be less
20 than 2.6° F. (for an initial temperature rise of 20° F.).
21 Thus any sinking plume which might develop at Zion will have
i
22 excess temperatures less than 3° F.
I would add just two comments that are not in my
written testimony. There was an earlier question addressed
to Dr. Pipes concerning whether studies conducted in recent
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1 D, Pritchard
2 years and since the last meeting of this group had resulted
3 in new findings,
4 I would suggest that the presentation I have just
5 made concerning the sinking plume is new. Also there have
6 been some very good new work and results concerning entrain-
7 ment of phytoplankton and zooplankton, their survival ratesj
3 on fish behavior with respect to avoidance behavior; and. on
9 time-temperature exposure relationships for species which
10 might be entrained in the plume and into the intake or en-
11 trained in the plume* Some of these results will be
12 reported by speakers who follow me,
13 That is all,
14 MR. MAYO: I would like to suggest to the con-
15 ferees that we consider holding our questions in connection
16 with the remainder of the Commonwealth Edison presentation
17 until we have gotten each of the speakers, in order to avoid
13 any redundant questioning,
19 If that is all right with the conferees, may we
20 proceed that way?
MR. BRYSON: Assuming the speakers stay around*
22 MR. MAYO: Yes.
I do have some questions of Dr. Pritchard.
DR. PRITCHARD: I am spending the night.
25 MR. FELDMAN: Dr. McNaught is next, Mr. Mayo.
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IB
19
20
21
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23
24
25
£04
D. McNaught
STATEMENT OF DR. DONALD C. McNAUGHT,
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES,
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK,
ALBANY, NEW YORK
DR. McNAUGHT: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen.
I am very happy to say that we do have some new and exciting
information on condenser passage. So before I give you ray
11 [I prepared statement, I would like to give you the main con-
i
12 |l elusions so that you can look, during my presentation of
data, for the evidence that will be used to make these con-
clusions.
1. We have discovered that zooplankton mortali-
ties* during condenser passage, are roughly a magnitude lower
than many statements that we see in the literature today.
2. We have discovered that most of this mortality
is due to mechanical effects and not to thermal effects.
With these conclusions, then, I will proceed to
my prepared testimony.
I am Donald McNaught, Associate Professor of
Biological Sciences at the State University of New York at
Albany. Previous to the 4 years I have been in this
position, I was Assistant Professor of Zoology at Michigan
-------
D. McNaught
State University. I hold B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Fisheries
Biology from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from
4 the University of Wisconsin in Zoology (limnology). Attached
5 hereto is a complete list of my professional experience,
6 awards, memberships in professional societies, and publica-
7 tions. (See pp. &Q6-&Q8)
My own studies have included an investigation of
9 the zooplankton of Lake Michigan beginning in 1964. More
10 recently we have been examining zooplankton production in
11 Lake Ontario, with emphasis on the effect of waste heat on
12 such production (see publications listed in vitae).
13 The Commonwealth Edison Company has invited me to
14 present this statement and I welcome the opportunity to
15 express my views regarding the potential effects of con-
16 denser passage on zooplankton, specifically as we predict
17 for the Zion nuclear plant.
Zooplankton constitute a portion of the ecological
19 basis for fish production in Lake Michigan. To seriously
20 reduce the production of zooplankton would be to interfere
21 with fish production. However, it is obvious from investi-
22 gations by personnel from Industrial Bio-Test that zooplank-
23 ton mortalities during condenser passage never approach
24 100 percent and are, in fact, usually closer to 10 percent,
25 even following return to ambient temperatures for 24 hours
-------
CURRICULUM VITAE OF DONALD C. McNAUGJIT
806
Per sorial:
a. Born: Detroit, Michigan, 1 May 193'i
b. Married: Mary E. Flach Mcuaught, 29 December 1962
c. Children: Four (196't, 1967, 1969, 1971)
d. Residence: Willow and Pineview, Rt 1, Box 370A,
Guilderlarid , Hew York 1208*(
e. University Address: Department of Biological Sciences
State University of Hew York at Albany
Albany, Hew York 12203
Ac ad emi c
a,
b.
c.
B.S. ,
M.S.,
Ph.D.,
1956,
1957,
Fisheries, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Fisheries, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Limnology (Zoology), University of Wisconsin,
Madi son
Training and Experience •'
a, 1953-1956: Michigan Department of Conservation; 1953 (summer),
Fish Division, Stream Improvement Crev; 1955 (summer),
Institute for Fisheries Research, Stream Survey Crew; 1956
(summer), Institute for Fisheries Research, Lake Survey Crew.
b. 1957-1965: university of Wisconsin
1, 1957-60, Research Assistant, research for Ph.D.
2. 1960-65, Project Assistant, research for Ph.D.,
administrative duties, Laboratory of Linnology.
3. Jan.-Sept. 1965, Project Associate, post-doctoral
research, zooplankton of Lake Michigan.
c. Sept. 1965-Sept. 1968: Michigan State University, Assistant
Professor, W. K. Kellogg Biological Station and Department
of Zoology.
d. Kept. 1968-present : State University of Mev York at Albany,
Associate Professor and Director of Cranberry Lake Biological
Stat ion.
e. 1971: Consultant, Commonwealth Edison, Chicago, on problems
of thermal discharge.
(1965)
$lt8,300.
Award s:
a. ASLO Travel Award, l6th Congress Limnology, Warsaw,
b. All-University Research Grant, MSU , 1965, $1*00.
c. Research Grant, National Science Foundation, 1966-68,
d. Renewal from iJ. S . F. , 1968-71, $35,300.
e. U.S. Lake Survey, 1969-70, $10,000 (joint award).
f. Research Foundation, State University of New York, 1969-71»
$7,870.
g. National Science Foundation, U.S. International Biological
Program, 1970-71, 019,078.
h. Renewal from N . S . F. -I . B . P . , 1971-72, $22,1*50.
i. ASLO Travel Award, loth Congress Limnology, Leningrad, $600 (1971)
J. Environmental Protection Agency, 1972-7 *"*, lli9,665 (contract
1972-73 for 79,758).
-------
307
MeIIaught, page 2
5 . Pro_fess iona 1 Sociejt ie_s_:
a. American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
b. Ecological Society of America
c. International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology
d. American Society of Zoologists
e. Michigan Academy of Science
f. American Fisheries Society
g, Wisconsin Academy of Science
6. Research Interests :
a. State University of New York at Albany, 1968-present.
Eutrophication of lakes of Nev York State, including studies
of secondary production using acoustical techniques and
effects of thermal loading on production of zooplankton;
adaptability of Cladoceran zooplankters to extreme photic
environments; evolution of visual systems of planktonic
cladocerans .
b. Michigan State University, 1965-1968.
Physiological ecology of the zooplankton; migratory behavior
and photochemistry of the visual pigments of the Cladocera
and Copepoda; use of acoustical methods in the study of
zooplankton distributions.
c. University of Wisconsin, 1957-65.
Ecology of Daphnia, including studies of migratory behavior
and the role of vision in depth control; investigations of
zooplankton scattering layers in Lake Michigan; studies of
relationships between a planktophage fish and its zooplankton
prey.
d. University of Michigan, 1956-1957-
Studies of comparative food habits of brook trout and burbot.
7• Committee Activities:
1968-present: Site Committee, Inter. Biol. Program; 1970-
present : Coordinator, Secondary Production, Deciduous Forest
Biome , IBP; 1969-present: Chairman, Subcommittee on Biology in
Public Affairs, Committee on Biology for SUNY; 1970-1972:
President's (SUNYA) Advisory and Steering Committees on Environ-
mental Studies; Environmental Decisions Comm. ',SUNYA Campus):
1971-; Coordinator, U.S.-I.E.P. team to International I.B.P.
Conference, Reading, England (Sept. 1972).
-------
McNuught, page 3 #07a
8. Publications ;
1. Lake Mendota and the science of limnology. Wis. Acad. Rev., 7(l):l-^
(i960) (with R. M. Horrall).
2. Surface schooling and feeding behavior in the white "bass, Roccus chrysops^
(Rafinesque) , in Lake Mendota Limnol. Oceanogr. , 6 ( 1 ) : 5 3- 60 ( 1961 )
(with A. D. Hasler) .
3. The fishes of Lake Mendota. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., 52:37-55 (1963).
k. Rate of movement of populations of Daphnia in relation to changes in
light intensity. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can., 2l(2) :291-3l8 (196H) (with
A. D. Hasler).
5. Depth control by planktonic cladocerans in Lake Michigan. Proc. 9th
Conf. Great Lakes Res., Great Lakes Res. Div. , University of Michigan,
Pub. 15:98-108 (1966).
6. Photoenvironments of planktonic Crustacea in Lake Michigan. Verh. Int.
Ver. Liranol., 16:19^-203 (1966) (with A. D. Hasler).
7. Fishing potential of inland lakes. Papers 12th Conf. Mich. Nat.
Resources Council (1968):8-11.
8. Acoustical determination of zooplankton distributions. Proc. llth Conf.
Great Lakes Res. 1968:76-85.
9, Short internal waves near their high-frequency limit in Central Lake
Michigan. Proc. llth Conf. Great Lakes Res. 1968: k^h-h69 (with C. H.
Mortimer and K. M. Stewart).
10, Developments in acoustic plankton sampling, Proc. 12th Conf. Great Lakes
Res. 1969:61-68.
11. A mathematical analysis of the niches of Lake Michigan zooplankton.
Proc. 13th Conf. Great Lakes Res. 1970:^7-57 (with P. A. Lane).
12. Plasticity of Cladoceran visual systems to environmental changes. Trans.
Amer. Micros. Soc. 90(l) :113-llU (1971 ).
13. Measurements of zooplankton production compatible with ecosystem analysis.
Trans. Amer. Micros. Soc. 90(l) :107-108 (l97l).
ll». Influences of thermal effluents upon aquatic production. Proc.
Conf. Great Lakes Res. 1971:21-26 (with M. W. Fenlon and G. D. Schroder).
15. "Notes on the Clarke-Bumpus Sampler", pg. 11-12 in A manual on methods
for the assessment of secondary productivity in fresh waters. Blackwell
Scientific, Oxford, 1971.
16. A niche analysis of the Gull Lake (Michigan, U.S.A.) zooplankton community.
Verh. int. Ver. Limnol. 18 (in galley) (with P. A. Lane).
17. The effects of thermal effluents upon secondary production. Verh. int.
Ver. Limnol. 18 (in galley) (with M. Fenlon).
-------
D. McNaught
2 to illustrate the insignificance of delayed mortality.
3 Results of Waukegan Studies
Estimates of zooplankton motility, used as an
5 indicator of survival, were made following condenser passage,
6 as well as at 4- and 24-hour intervals, so as to estimate
7 either recovery or later death. Effects of condenser passage
were examined at a maximum A T of 12° to 13° G. to imitate
9 passage at Zion, as well as a normal Waukegan A T of 4« 5°
10 to 9*5° G. Furthermore, mechanical effects of passage were
11 separated from thermal effects by pumping water and sampling
12 at the discharge when the plant was not operative,
13 Zooplankters passing through any condenser and
14 associated pumps suffer both mechanical and thermal stress.
15 For the period of the Waukegan study, 0.7 i 3»0 percent of
16 entrained zooplankton suffered immotility due to thermal
17 stress, while 6.5 i 4.2 percent were rendered immotile due
to mechanical abrasion. (Figure 1) (See p. 8o8a)
19 These figures are illustrated at Figure 1 which
20 was inadvertently left out of my testimony and is available
21 on the floor at this time.
22 I While those who have not carefully examined the
effects of condenser passage might assume increased A T's
to be the critical factor, it is now obvious that mechanical
2 5 abrasion is the most important cause of immotility,
-------
o
UJ
o;
20
tr
UJ
D. 10
u
0
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
20
15
10
0
—i r~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 i i
MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR
100
NORMAL A1
NO AT
MECHANICAL EFFECT ( NO AT)
—I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 j 1 (0
JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR
ilOO
u.
o
10
O
CC 5
UJ
Q.
MAXIMUM AT
NO AT
AL'^ EFFECT! MAX/AT}
r^Z-/ MECHANICAL EFFECT INO AT)
15
MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR
•9*1 *T*ik4r~ /i*/™\Ki"Tiio\ 1972
TIME (MONTHS)
i Effects of condenser passage on zooplankton with maximum
A T of 12-13 C, normal AT of 4. 5 - 9. 5 C, and no A T
(ambient temp. ) at Waukcgan generating station, May 1971 .
April 1972.
-------
• 309
1 D. McNaught
2 accounting for the mean of 6.5 percent mentioned above.
3 Mechanical effects fluctuate seasonally, likely with
4 changes in species composition and size. The number of
5 immotile organisms resulting from abrasion and other factors
6 was less than 3.1 percent (± 4.5) from May to August when
7 copepod nauplii and small cladocerans were abundant.
8 Immotility due to mechanical effects increased to 7,2 per-
9 cent from September to January when larger cladocerans
10 (Daphnia and Diaptomus) and copepods predominated. When
11 the large relict copepod Limnocalanus macrurus appeared,
12 mortality due to mechanical abrasion jumped significantly
13 (P70.05) to 11 percent. Thus one important challenge for
14 the future will be to construct pumps and condensers to
15 reduce this mortality resulting from the mechanical effects
16 we have observed.
Tests at Waukegan illustrate clearly that a second
effect of condenser passage, immotility from thermal stress,
does not significantly increase with the /\ T across the
condenser. If an animal is warmed but remains below its
21
22
lethal temperature, it doesn't matter if it is warmed 5.5° C
(9.9° F.) or 12.5° C. (22.5° F.) above ambient. Approxi-
23
J mately 7.2 ± 2.3 percent of the zooplantcton are rendered
immobile at a A T of 5.5° C., while 7.7 1 3.5 percent are
immobilized at a A T of 12.5° C. That is, the increase in
-------
aio
1 D. McNaught
2 temperature change ( /J\ T) is not harmful as long as discharg
3 temperatures do not surpass the upper lethal temperature.
4 It is not expected that Zion discharge temperatures will
5 exceed lethal limits; if this is the case it doesn't matter
j
6 to the zooplankton whether the /£\ T experienced is 5° C. or
7 12° C.
j
B ! Thus we have examined two basic concepts. First,
i
9 we have illustrated that mechanical effects are minor, lead-
10 ing to mortalities of about 6.5 percent of zooplankton pass-
I
11 ing the condensers. Secondly, thermal effects are even more
12 insignificant, causing immotility in 0.7 percent of animals.
13 Now we want to examine the seasonal aspects of condenser
14 mortalities of zooplankton.
l
15 In recent Bio-Test studies it has been demonstrated
16 that the upper lethal temperature limits for most Lake Michi-
17 gan zooplankton are higher than the maximum summer lake
IS temperatures of 23° to 25° C. (73° to 77° F.). Thus it is
19 not surprising we found no severe thermal effects at the
20 | Waukegan discharge at 32° C. (98.6° F.) In fact, seasonal
21 immotility following passage is highest in February and
22 March (Figure 1), and we have already attributed these
2^ thermal effects to large size (Limnocalanus). The summer
2L
^ months are not critical at Zion, for we are dealing with a
25
^ mechanical problem.
-------
1 D. MeNaught
2 Thus far we have discussed immotility as a measure
3 of mortality. However, all immobile organisms leaving the
4 discharge do not perish. We have demonstrated a total im-
5 mobility of 7.2 percent, based on animals observed imme-
6 diately after passage. But after 24 hours, less than 6
7 percent are immobile indicating a decrease of l.S percent;
8 i.e., 25 percent of the organisms initially immobilized
9 have recovered after 24 hours.
10 Estimate of Zooplankton Immobility at Zion
11 At this point we have predicted that immotility,
12 and likely the mortality, of zooplankton due to condenser
13 passage at Zion is on the order of 7»7 percent for tempera-
14 I ture increases expected across the Zion condensers. How
15 many pounds of zooplankton would be immobilized in a given
16 year at Zion? From a careful analysis of Bio-Test data on
17 zooplankton abundance at Zion, and conservatively assuming
1$ that dry weight is 5 percent of wet weight, we have calcu-
19 lated that 1.21 x 10 Ib. of zooplankton will be immobilized
20 at the Zion plant in a year (Table 1). Parenthetically,
21 I give you the necessary figures to make these calculations.
22 I will not read the review of the literature.
23 This review, which you can read, essentially says that the
2^ literature substantiates the Bio-Test findings of Waukegan
25 I and, as I said, you can read that yourself.
-------
312
D. McNaught
At this time, then, I would like to comment on the
AEG draft Environmental Statement and the EPA reply. Cer-
4 tainly the most recent results from intensive Bio-Test
5 j investigations at the Waukegan station are inconsistent
i
6 with the draft Environmental Statement of the AEG, which
suggests a 15 to 30 percent kill at Waukegan, with a 100
8 percent kill most likely for invertebrates. In intensive
9 studies at Waukegan, investigators at Bio-Test have pre-
10 dieted that Zion will experience a kill of 7.7 ~ 3.5
11 ! percent.
12 Likewise,, these same Bio-Test investigations refute
13 the EPA comments to the effect that excessive losses of
I
14 fishfood organisms will occur if intake velocities are not
j
15 j| reduced to 1 f.p.s. It is highly unlikely that reduced
intake velocities would, in any way, reduce these already
low levels of likely zooplankton mortality.
For the future, then, I feel it is vital that the
Commonwealth Edison Company examine the effects of condenser
passage on zooplankton once the Zion plant is operative.
Such investigations will support or refute Bio-Test esti-
l
22 i
mates of minimal environmental damage.
2^ Thank you.
2.L '
4 (Dr. McNaught's presentation follows in its
25
' entirety.)
-------
THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF CONDENSER PASSAGE
ON THE ENTRAINED ZOOPLANKTON AT ZION STATION
By Donald C. McNaught
I am Donald McNaught, Associate Professor of Biological
Sciences at the State University of New York at Albany. Pre-
vious to the four years I have been in this position I was
Assistant Professor of Zoology at Michigan State University.
I hold B.S. and M.S. degrees in Fisheries Biology from the
University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconsin in Zoology (limnology). Attached hereto is a complete
list of my professional experience, awards, memberships in pro-
fessional societies, and publications.
My own studies have included an investigation of the zoo-
plankton of Lake Michigan, beginning in 1964. More recently
we have been examining zooplankton production in Lake Ontario,
with emphasis on the effect of waste heat on such production
(see publications listed in vitae).
The Commonwealth Edison Company has invited me to present
this statement and I welcome the opportunity to express my views
regarding the potential effects of condenser passage on zoo-
plankton, specifically as we predict for the Zion nuclear plant.
-------
-2-
The Problem
Zooplankton constitute a portion of the ecological basis for
fish production in Lake Michigan. To seriously reduce the pro-
duction of zooplankton would be to interfere with fish p-roduction.
However, it is obvious from investigations by personnel from
Industrial Bio-Test that zooplankton mortalities during condenser
passage never approach 100% and are, in fact, usually closer to
10%, even following return to ambient temperatures for 24 hours
to illustrate the insignificance of delayed mortality.
Results of Waukegan Studies
Estimates of zooplankton motility, used as an indicator of
survival, were made following condenser passage, as well as at
4 and 24 hour intervals, so as to estimate either recovery or
later death. Effects of condenser passage were examined at a
maximum ^ 1 of 12 - 13 °C to imitate passage at Zion, as well
as a normal Waukegan ^ T of 4.5 - 9.5°C. Furthermore, mechanical
effects of passage were separated from thermal effects by pump-
ing water and sampling at the discharge when the plant was not
operative.
Zooplankters passing through any condenser and associated
pumps suffer both mechanical and thermal stress. For the period
of the Waukegan study, 0.7 +_ 3.0% of entrained zooplankton suf-
fered immotility due to thermal stress, while 6.5 + 4.2% were
rendered immotile due to mechanical abrasion (Fig. 1).
While those who have not carefully examined the effects of
condenser passage might assume increased £ T's to be the critical
factor, it is now obvious that mechanical abrasion is the most
-------
-3-
iraportant cause of immotility, accounting for the mean of 6.5%
mentioned above. Mechanical effects fluctuate seasonally, likely
with changes in species composition and size. The number of im-
motile organisms resulting from abrasion and other factors Wcis
less than 3.1% (+_ 4.5) from May to August when copepod nauplii
and small caldocerans were abundant. Immotility due to mechanical
effects increased to 7.2% from September to January when larger
cladocerans (Daphnia and Diaptomus) and copepods predominated.
When the large relict copepod Limnocalanus macrurus appeared,
mortality due to mechanical abrasion jumped significantly
(P^ 0.05) to 11%. Thus one important challenge for the future
will be to construct pumps and condensers to reduce this mortality
resulting from the mechanical effects we have observed.
Tests at Waukegan illustrate clearly that a second effect of
condenser passage, immotility from thermal stress, does not
significantly increase with the ^ T across the condenser. If an
animal is warmed but remains below its lethal temperature, it
doesn't matter if it is warmed 5.5°C (9.9°F) or 12.5°C (22.5°F)
above ambient. Approximately 7.2 + 2.3% of the zooplankton are
rendered immobile at a £ T of 5.5°C, while 7.7 + 3.5% are im-
mobilized at a ^ T of 12.5°C. That is, the increase in temper-
ature change ( ^ T) is not harmful as long as discharge temper-
atures do not surpass the upper lethal temperature. It is not
expected that Zion discharge temperatures will exceed lethal
limits; if this is the case it doesn't matter to the zooplankton
whether the ^ T experienced is 5 C or 12 C.
Thus we have examined two basic concepts. First we have
-------
-4-
illustrated. that mechanical effects are minor/ leading to mortal-
ities of about 6.5% of zooplankton passing the condensers.
Secondly, thermal effects are even more insignificant, causing
immotility in 0.7% of animals. Now we want to examine the seasonal
aspects of condenser mortalities of zooplankton.
In recent Bio-Test studies it has been demonstrated that the
upper lethal temperature limits for most Lake Michigan zooplankton
are higher than the maximum summer lake temperatures of 23 - 25°C
(73 - 77°F). Thus it is not surprising we found no severe thermal
effects at the Waukegan discharge at 32°C (98.6°F). In fact,
seasonal immotility following passage is highest in February and
March (Fig. 1), and we have already attributed these thermal
effects to large size (Limnocalanus). The summer months are not
critical at Zion, for we are dealing with a mechanical problem.
Thus far we have discussed immotility as a measure of mortality,
However, all immobile organisms leaving the discharge do not perish.
We have demonstrated a total immobility of 7.2%, based on animals
observed immediately after passage. But after 24 hours, less than
6% are immobile indicating a decrease of 1.8%; that is, 25% of
the organisms initially immobilized have recovered after 24 hours.
Estimate of Zooplankton Immobility at Zion
At this point we have predicted that immotility, and likely
the mortality, of zooplankton due to condenser passage at Zion
is on the order of 7.7% for temperature increases expected across
the Zion condensers. How many pounds of zooplankton would be im-
mobilized in a given year at Zion? From a careful analysis of
Bio-Test data on zooplankton abundance at Zion, and conservatively
-------
— 5 —
assuming that dry-weight is 5% of wet-weight, we have calculated
that 1.21 x 10 Ib. of zooplankton will be immobilized at the
Zion plant in a year (Table 1).
Table 1. Calculation of loss of zooplankton in condenser waters
from Zion plant.
1.) Mean yearly biomass of zooplankton, grams per meter _
dry-weight .116 gm/m
2.) Mean yearly biomass of zooplankton, pounds per
gallons X 1CT 1.0 Ib/gal X 106
3.) Zion Capacity: 1.5 X 10 gal/minute or
7.88 X 1011 gal/year
4.) Dry-weight zooplankton per year 7.88 X 10 Ib.
5.) Wet-weight zooplankton per year (dry-weight 7
X 20) 1.57 X 10 Ib.
6.) Wet-weight zooplankton immobilized (7.7% of total)
per year at Zion 1.21 X 10 Ib.
Review of Literature Concerned with Effects of Condenser Passage
A review of the literature reveals relatively few controlled
studies of zooplankton mortality in condenser waters. It appears
that students of thermal effects have not determined precise
mortality curves (TL ) for zooplankton. However, it is important
•J \J
that results reported in the literature tend to support the results
of Bio-Test investigations.
Casual observations of the conditions of zooplankters follow-
ing condenser passage suggest strongly that an increase in temper-
ature alone has little effect on survival. Flemer e_t al. (1971)
found only slight mortality of 10% for one copepod (Eurytemora).
Staining techniques were used to tell live animals from dead.
Adams (1968) quoted Dryer and Benson, who found no significant
-------
-6-
changes in numbers of zooplankters in the discharge of the
Johnsonville (Tenn.) steam plant. Protozoans are an important
component of many aquatic communities. Lorton et al. (1971)
discovered that condenser passage does not reduce the diversity
of protozoan populations.
It is not known how many observations of mortality due to
temperature are effected by compounding factors. Mihursky (1969)
has observed at the Chalk Point fossil fuel plant that copepods
(as Acartia) are particularly susceptible to chlorine; temper-
ature increases accompanied by chlorine injections often cause
100% mortality.
In a rather careful study Heinle (1969) has observed that
the upper thermal limits for marine zooplankters are near their
natural summer thermal maxima. This observation may explain the
Bio-Test results previously discussed.
Comment on AEC Draft Environmental Statement and EPA Reply
Certainly the most recent results from intensive Bio-Test
investigations at the Waukegan station are inconsistent with the
Draft Environmental Statement of the AEC, which suggests a 15 -
30% kill at Waukegan, with a 100% kill most likely for invertebrates.
In intensive studies at Waukegan, investigators at Bio-Test have
predicted that Zion will experience a kill of 7.7 + 3.5%.
Likewise, these same Bio-Test investigations refute the EPA
comments ("Environmental Impact Statement Comments: Zion Nuclear
Power Station Units 1 and 2", dated August 1972, EPA, Washington, B.C.)
-------
-7-
to the effect that excessive losses of fish-food organisms will
occur if intake velocities are not reduced to 1 foot per second.
It is highly unlikely that reduced intake velocities would, in
any way, reduce these already low levels of likely zooplankton
mortality.
Future Investigations at Zion
I feel that it is vital that the Commonwealth Edison Company
examine the effects of condenser passage on zooplankton once the
Zion plant is operative. Such investigations will support or
refute Bio-Test estimates of minimal environmental damage.
-------
— 8 —
REFERENCES
Adams, J. R. 1969. Ecological investigations around some thermal
power stations in California tidal waters. Ches. Science,
10(3/4):145-154.
Flemer, D. A., D. R. Heinle, R. P. Morgan, C. W. Keefe, M. C. Grote
and J. A. Mihursky. 1971. The effects of steam electric
station operation on entrained organisms. In Postoperative
Assessment of the Effects of Esturarine Power Plants. Ches.
Bay Lab. Ref. # 71-24a, pp. 1-17.
Heinle, D. R. 1969. Temperature and zooplankton. Chesapeake
Science, 10(3/4):186-209.
Lorton, E. D. and J. Cairns. 1971. A preliminary report on the
effect of simulated passage of potential colonizing proto-
zoans through the condenser of a steam electric power
generating plant upon downstream protozoan community
development. Revista de Biologia, 7 (3/4):215-227.
Mihursky, J. A. 1969. Patuxent thermal studies. Summary and
recommendations. N.R.I. Special Report 1:1-20.
-------
_813_
1 E. Raney
2 MR. FELDMAN: Dr. Raney.
3
4 STATEMENT OF DR. EDWARD C. RANEY,
5 PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY, EMERITUS,
6 CORNELL UNIVERSITY,
7 ITHACA, NEW YORK
8
9 DR. RANEY: My name is Edward C. Raney, I am
10 Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, Cornell University, and
11 Director of Ichthyological Associates, Ithaca, New York,
12 I hold the Ph.D. Degree in Zoology from Cornell University.
13 My specialty is the study of ecology, behavior and system-
14 j atics of fishes. Details of my qualifications in the field
15 of ichthyology and aquatic ecology were submitted to the
16 Four-State Conference held in September 1970 when I made a
17 presentation entitled "Heated Discharges and Fishes in Lake
13 Michigan."
19 Since I appeared before this conference in 1970,
20 I have continued to make and direct literature and field
21 studies related to heated discharges and fishes. You may
22 | recall, in 1969 we published a bibliography of 470 pages
which included 1,870 references dealing with this subject.
Continued search in the last 3 years has produced more than
2,200 additional references which will be available shortly
-------
814
E. Raney
2 as a computer printout.
o Parenthetically, I noted that earlier some of the
younger people have spoken and mentioned that there really
5 wasn't very much known, I think that there is a great deal
11
6 that is known, but you have to know where to go and find it,
7 and we assume that these bibliographies will be used by these
i
g people who really want to get at the truth.
9 Field studies of aquatic habitats, including
10 ! reservoirs, rivers and ocean with reference to present or
11 potential heated plumes have continued in the eastern United
12 States* I have either advised or have acted as director of
13 projects on the Connecticut, the Hudson, the Delaware and the
14 Susquehanna Rivers, the upper Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake
I ;
15 ! and Delaware Canal and the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey.
i
16 Personnel of Ichthyological Associates have undertaken a
17 series of experimental studies which include determination
of swim speed and stamina of fishes, swim speed and guidance
capacity of ocean fishes off southern California, laboratory
20 | experiments dealing with temperature preference of fishes
21 and their temperature avoidance or attraction, and shock
22 experiments. Similar experiments on preference, avoidance and
attraction for a number of chemicals and chemical bioassays
are continuing. The results of these studies have furnished
insight with regard to the potential problems in Lake
-------
J. McNaught
Michigan near Zion.
During the past 2 years I have conferred with
biologists and others associated with Commonwealth Edison,
t
and have had an opportunity to make suggestions and read
progress reports of studies being done off the Zion and
Waukegan plants by Industrial Bio-Tests Laboratories, Inc.
Particularly I have consulted with Peter H. Howe, Biologist,
Commonwealth Edison, Dr. Robert G. Otto, who has been doing
10 experiments on temperature preference of fishes found in
Lake Michigan and have seen reports by and conferred with
12 Michael C. Cochran of Bio-Tests who has studied fish popu-
13 lations in southwestern Lake Michigan.
14 In my presentation made before this conference in
15 September 1970, I discussed the history of the fish popula-
16 tions of Lake Michigan and generally discussed temperature
17 requirements of fishes, preferred temperature, lethal
temperature, winter temperature, avoidance temperature, and
19 made a number of predictions regarding behavior of fishes and
20 the effects on fish populations in reference to the Zion
21 plume.
22 In this presentation, I will attempt to bring you
23 up- to date with regard to the studies which have been made
24 which will help in explaining my position in regard to what
25 some environmentalists have thought would be a serious
-------
316
1
2
3
problem.
E. Kaney
Great changes have occurred in Lake Michigan
7
10
11
12
13
fisheries over the past 25 years. Many of the changes
accompanied the introduction of the landlocked form of the
sea lamprey, the alewife and the smelt. The major changes
in fish populations were not associated particularly with
the industrial activities of man but were mainly as a
result of the interaction of fish species. At times and
with some species, commercial overfishing may have been
important. Monumental efforts appear to have brought the
populations of lamprey under control. Recently other
species such as the coho, Chinook and kokanee salmon, which
are native to the Pacific Coast, were introduced, and in
i
15 | 1972 the Atlantic salmon was introduced. The stocking
16
17
19
20
21
programs also involve the lake trout and other trouts.
i have included a short section on fish stocking
in 1972 but in view of the lateness of the hour, I think
that I will skip that because it is mostly of general
information.
I think also that I will skip reading the section
22 that I have prepared with regard to recent fishing in Lake
Michigan.
01
* I just might say that fishery biologists are
25
attempting to bring Lake Michigan back to a state where
-------
8l7_
E. Raney
it will be worthwhile as a sport fishery. It seems highly
unlikely that it ever will be important as a commercial
fishery in the future, but that remains to be seen,
We go next to a discussion of the fish fauna in
the Zion area, or in the area of the Zion plant. Studies
were made by personnel of Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories,
Inc, of fishes which occur in the Waukegan-Zion area, Dur-
9 ing the period from April through December 1971, those
10 captured include the alewife (66,$ percent) by weight, lake
11 trout (12,4 percent), rainbow smelt (10,8 percent), and
12 bloater (6,1 percent). Fishes taken occasionally included
13 brown trout, lake whitefish, yellow perch, carp, white
14 sucker, Chinook salmon and coho salmon. Those which were
15 considered scarce were slimy sculpin, lake herring, goldfish,
16 spottail shiner, rainbow trout, brook trout, longnose
17 sucker, emerald shiner, trout-perch, golden shiner, long-
nose dace, ninespine stickleback, mud minnow, and johnny
19 darter. Other species taken rarely in the area include
20 spoonhead sculpin, mottled sculpin, emerald shiner, lake
21 sturgeon and whitefish,
22 i pointed out in my 1970 presentation that a
23 section of Lake Michigan cannot be all things to all fishes
at all times. In other words, the distribution of species
changes daily and with season. Much of this change appears
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2 to be associated with the preferred temperature of the
o species, but other variables are involved such as daily
• migrations, either vertically or inshore-offshore, the
c presence and abundance of food organisms and the necessity
for finding suitable spawning substrate.
The inshore waters (that is up to possibly 20
feet in depth), we find, is an inhospitable environment in
the winter when water temperatures approach 32° F. and other
10 factors such as bottom scour with high winds are adverse.
11 Off the Waukegan-Zion area, Bio-Test has found
12 alewife in all months of the year except December. Smelt
have been found during all months. However the abundance
14 may vary with species from month to month and place to place
15 within the study area. The lake trout is usually found in
16 water 30 feet or deeper. I am talking now with reference
17 to the Zion plant. The coho salmon appears to be in the area
mostly in June. Alewife, smelt and carp seem to spawn to
19 a moderate extent in the area. And parenthetically I have
20 j information recently from Bio-Test that they have found some
21 slight evidence of spawning of yellow perch.
22 For Lake Michigan there is no lack of suitable
23 spawning substrate and nursery for these species. We are
24 talking now about Lake Michigan as a whole. The yellow
25 perch has been scarce in recent years. Ultimately it may
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1 E. Raney
2 be found to spawn in the Zion area, as it, in fact, did
3 this last year. None of the large important fishes appear
^ to spawn in this area. For some such as the lake trout the
5 type of spawning substrate which is needed is a hard sub-
6 strate — either rocks or hard clay — and this is absent
7 or very limited.
8 Fishes which are known to overwinter in the
9 deeper water offshore, such as alewife, bloater, smelt,
10 salmon and trout, undertake spring migrations into the
11 shallows. Actually this may be spring or early summer.
12 The reverse type of migration was noted for the slimy
13 sculpin, which, incidentally is used as food for the larger
14 salmonid fishes.
15 The heated plume from the Waukegan discharge has
16 attracted, at various times, young alewives and several
17 species of minnow, including the carp.
IS Water temperature in the depths offshore was more
19 stable than those of the inshore waters during the period
20 from April through December 1971• However in the deeper
i
21 water, fluctuations during a month may be as much as 5.4°
22 I p. The water temperature is basically the same even in the
23 deeper water. This is in a 90-foot depth.
1
24 Water temperatures, as measured from north to
south, in the shore zones were similar but they had
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2 variations up to approximately 3*6° F» I just want to
o emphasize here that you don't have constant temperature,
the temperature can vary from top to bottom, from place to
place, from time to time, and certainly with upwelling, which
5 is a matter which Dr. Pritchard discussed briefly.
7 I would like to reemphasize — and it is very
important — my 1970 testimony that small differences in
temperature, including those up to 5° F., have little or
10 fl° ecological significance to fishes found in temperate
11 regions
12 The thermal plume at Zion and its relation to
13 fishes: The design of the cooling water system with a sub-
14 merged jet, as described by Dr. Pritchard in April 1970, is
15 such that the area inside the 5° F. isotherm is less than 6
16 acres. I get back to my contention which is supported by
17 numerous field observations and by laboratory experiments
IB that up to the 5° isotherm is not particularly significant.
19 But we might say that within 5° or higher, we have about 6
20 acres. So that, basically, when we say this area would be
21 denied the fishes at the Zion plant — now, it is denied
22 not only because of temperature, but because of velocity.
23 in other words, the jet design is such that a fish, in order
24 to get inside the 6° isotherm would have to swim at approxi-
25 mately 4 f.p.s. Some large salmonid fishes can do this
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2 easily enough, but it is highly unlikely that they would, swim
3 against this high velocity at the same time they would be
4 going into a higher heat. We have some evidence from experi-
5 mental evidence on this point.
6 So, then, I reemphasize, it is obvious that oflly
7 a few acres would be denied to fishes by this combination of
3 high temperature and high velocity. Now there is a very
9 great advantage to this system of having a high jet because
10 kills which have been known to occur because of high temper-
11 ature alone are highly improbable in this situation, because
12 the fish would have to be swimming into very hot water at
13 a very high speed, and our experimental evidence is that they
14 know that the water is 5° or 6° and they turn around and get
15 out of there* It is basically like, you know, walking or
16 running into a shower,
17 Basically, heat kills are a very rare occurrence
1& when you consider all powerplants in the temperate regions
19 of the world. In a few cases, there have been kills, as
20 has been pointed out here earlier today. Most of these
21 have had to do with long discharge canals. That is a very
22 j important point,
23 The Oyster Creek kill of last winter was mentioned.
Two of my people happened to be there at the time the kill
occurred. The water temperature dropped from approximately
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1 E. Raney
2 70° F. to approximately 36° F., and a lot of fish were
killed. A lot of the fish continued to live in the area
and were not killed. They fed on the dead fish. We made
some estimates of the poundage of menhaden that were killed
6 and we estimated it might be about what an ordinary, success-
7 ful commercial fisherman off New Jersey might catch in a
half hour.
9 Another thing that I think should be put in per-
10 spective, which was mentioned earlier, was the kill at
11 Brunner Island. It is located on the Susquehanna River.
12 The water temperature in the canal, again, was
13 #0°. Through a misfortune in operation, one of the pumps
14 continued, and in any event 36° of water was pumped into
15 $0°, and the $0° water very quickly cooled, and the concen-
16 tration of fishes in this canal were killed.
17 However, we estimated — and a chap who works for
me happened to be fishing there that morning, so we have
19 very good data on this — that maybe a third of the fishes
20 [ were killed. It has been estimated that maybe 15,000 game
21 fish were killed. Most of these were small. The company
22 paid something in the order of $12,000 for this damage, and
23 the State got a bargain. It was a political bargain. The
fish people working for the State of Pennsylvania obviously
25 j had to get something because there was a great hue and cry.
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1 E. Raney
2 However, this particular place is the only
3 place that you can fish along the Susquehanna in winter.
4 It is a great sport fishery for muskellunge and bass, and
5 has been for the last 20 years,
6 The point here is that these kind of kills that
7 are overemphasized, as I think they were this morning, are
& basically not significant in an ecological sense, and in
9 most cases, these heated plumes add very significantly to
10 sport fishery*
11 Now, what about Zion? The situation for a winter
12 kill does not, in my opinion, exist at Zion even if fishes
13 are found in the heated plume during winter, V/hy is this?
14 That outside the 5° isotherm, or inside the 5° isotherm,
j
15 you will have velocities of 5 or 6 f.p.s. Outside the 5°
16 isotherm you may have a concentration of fishes —— if you
17 drop below, what are you going to get? You are going to get
a drop of 5°.
19 Now, our experimental evidence over and over
20 again, with 30 different species of fish — and I could cite
you evidence that was given here earlier by Mr, Barber of
22 #° or more that it takes to cause a fish kill of coho
3 salmon — it is highly unlikely that we would ever get a
winter kill in the plume at Zion,
oc i
' !| Now, a few words about the movement of fishes in
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relation to plumes. Field observations and experimental
data indicate that a species of fish which is acclimated to
a given water temperature may move toward or away from a
higher or lower temperature, depending upon its preferred
i
6 ! temperature. This preferred temperature will vary with the
i
7 i acclimation temperaturej the acclimation temperature varies
|
3 11 through the year.
i
9 Now, this has been illustrated by the results of
i[
10 many experiments done since my last presentation and, as
11 ( Dr, Pritchard mentioned, I think this is one of the real
12 significant contributions that we have been able to make to
13 the literature. These results are published for estuarian
14 fishes. Further tests are under way, at the present time,
i
15 by Bio-Test and will be available shortly.
16 Fishes found in Lake Michigan may be divided
roughly into three groups. The so-called cold water fishes
include the trouts, salmons, smelt, bloater, whitefish,
ninespine stickleback, and slimy sculpin. These fishes all
20 have preferred temperatures of something in the fifties or
maybe low sixties.
Then we have a group which we call warm water
fishes. These, in the Zion area, include fishes like the
large mouth bass, spottail shiner, central mudminnow, carp,
mottled sculpin, and white sucker. Also in the Zion area,
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we have an intermediate group which, for want of a better
term, you could call cool water fishes. These include the
alewife and the yiellow perch. The smallmouth bass, which
5 is not very common in this area and, as a matter of fact,
6 I don't think it was taken by Bio-Test but ultimately will
7 be, I am confident, and the burbot, which normally is a
deep water fish, might be classified as intermediate. In
9 other words, smallmouth is somewhat intermediate in its
10 preference for warmer water, and the burbot is intermediate
11 in its preference for cold water. So that the basic point
12 here is that each of these fish has its own preferred temper-
13 ature.
14 Now, all of these fishes may live in winter with
15 temperatures that are as low as 32° to 40° F. It is very
16 important to remember this, however: that all can tolerate
17 this range, but none of them prefer it, if other temperatures
are available, and most importantly if there is a drainage
19 leading to a higher temperature. In other words, there may
20 | be a lot of heated plumes in a given lake, but unless there
21 are gradients leading into those heated plumes, the fish
22 have no way of knowing this.
23 Now, in Lake Michigan, during the summer, the in-
shore waters and the upper layers ~ surface layers — are
warmer than is the deep water which is essentially 40° F.
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I E. Raney
2 The distribution of the fishes in spring and fall
3 | depend in large part on preferred temperature. They are
i
4 usually found fairly within a range of temperature close
5 j to their preferred temperature. Now this position may be
I
6 | quantified to some extent by the previous temperature
7 j experience or its acclimation and other factors such as
8 i water current, oxygen — which is not an important factor
i
i
9 in Lake Michigan because the water is mostly saturated —•
10 [ availability of food, and availability of spawning sub-
11 strate.
12 The behavior of fishes in Lake Michigan toward a
j
j
13 heated plume is predicted to be basically the same as their
14 reaction to the water in the lake as it changes with
i
15 j season. There is nothing strange and mysterious about
16 this, and biologists have recognized this for 100 years.
17 The behavior of fishes of Lake Michigan toward a heated
plume is predicted to be basically the same as their re-
actions to the water in the lake as it changes with the
20 season. Because they are able to discern very small changes
*x I in temperature, they move toward their preferred tempera-
22 !
ture. However, if the change in water temperature is too
23
J great, they may stop or move away from the higher or lower
i
temperature until a degree of acclimation is reached. These
25
reactions have been noted over and over again, I am told,
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E. Raney
2 i| by myself, and it has been demonstrated by experiments recentl^
by Drs. Meldrim and Gift in our- tests at Delaware Laboratory.
For example, we worked on 30 species of fish in
5
6
7
9
10
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
this connection but, for example, you take specimens of the
largemouth bass which is classified as a warm water fish,
and we did, and we acclimated them to 77° on July S. They
were given a choice of higher temperatures* They avoided
a temperature of $7° F. In other words, they went up toward
a preferred temperature; when they got to #7° they backed
i.
11 II off.
12 : On July 16, at the same acclimation temperature,
77° F», they were given a range of higher temperatures,
they backed off when it was 91°•
Another example: The yellow perch, which may
be classified as a cool water fish, although it goes in its
natural range as far south as South Carolina — after having
been acclimated to 77 on July 13, it avoided 93 water.
And on July 21, when acclimated to 77 , it avoided 92
water.
In other words, they go up into or toward this
heated water and when it gets too hot for them they turn
around and they get out. And this is in accord with obser-
vations that have been made over and over again at thousands
of different plants in the temperate regions of the world
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E. Raney
involving several hundreds of species of fish.
When we get to the alewife, which I view with
4 | mixed blessings, as I think some of you do, in the lake —
il
5 I obviously it is a very important sports fish and also it is
i
6 il a damned nuisance.
i
7 !| We have done a series of experiments on the ale-
8 wife, and normally it is classified as a cool water fish,
i
9 Although the sea-run alewife, of course, lives in rivers
I
10 I during the first year of its life and it goes back to sea
i
11 i where it lives 3 to 4 years before returning to fresh water
12 |i rivers in order to spawn,
i!
13 i We took alewife acclimated to 77° and tested
14 them. They avoided water of S6°, I think these tempera-
15 j tures are higher than we are going to see in Lake Michigan
i
16 at most times, but these are mere illustrations of an
17 important point.
On October 21, those acclimated to 64° avoided
19 water at 76°; and on November 3, those acclimated to 63°
20 avoided water of 79°.
I
21 The important point here is: the avoidance
i
i
22 I temperature or the attraction temperature can vary with the
acclimation temperature,
^ ! Now the important thing to remember is illustrated
by data from these same fishes. For instance, in August,
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$29
£• Raney
we took six specimens of alewife, acclimated them to 77° for
4# hours, introduced them into an experimental apparatus
where the water temperature was 74°, and they were offered
two alternatives: 74° or 82°. Well, what do you think they
would do? They proceeded to the area and occupied the
water that was $2°. Well, after a short period, these same
8 six specimens were introduced into a similar experimental
tank where the water temperature was $0° but where the al-
10 ternative temperature was #6°. What did they do? They
j
11 i avoided $6°. In other words, they moved away from it,
i|
12 I have another experiment listed in the paper
i
i
13 i with similar results. I won't repeat it.
14 I go into the matter of final preferred tempera-
15 ture and give a table showing the final preferred tempera-
16 ture of some of the fishes which occur in Lake Michigan,
17 but I am not going into a further discussion of that except
1& | to say a few words about the plume and the behavior of fishes
i
19 toward the plume, as I predict them, based upon what I have
20 | seen, as I say, over the last 35 years in temperate
21 regions.
22 fhe plume will vary in temperature with the
90 I
° ; seasons. During the summer it will be attractive to warm
2^- water fishes provided they come into contact with a gradient
25 j which leads to it.
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330
1 E. Raney
2 In the plume adjacent to the Waukegan discharge
•D during the summer, fishes classified as warm water and some
j
cool water species have been found,
Now, I have predicted with regard to the plume in
6 the Zion area that during late fall, winter, and early spring^
i
7 j when the warmest natural water in Lake Michigan is close
j|
3 to 40° F., the so-called cold water fishes which prefer
9 water in the 53° to 63° F, range may be found around the
10 periphery of a heated plume. However, they would be found
11 there only if their inshore-offshore migrations were such
12 |i that they had an opportunity to sense the gradient leading
13 | to the plume. This should allay the fears of some who
14 might think that all of the salmonid fishes that are in the
i
15 Zion-Waukegan area are going to pile into that heated water
16 in the winter. It does not work that way in other places
17 that have been observed over and over again, including
stations on Lake Michigan.
19 It is predicted that; the heated plumes from all
j
20 large plants on Lake Michigan will produce plume conditions
i
21 ! that will concentrate game fishes in areas where they may
il
22 j be more readily taken by anglers. This has been the almost
:l
23 j universal experience around the world in temperate regions,
24- and I regard this as one of the pluses for a large plume.
25 if you want to go fishing in the fall or the spring, a very
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1 E, Raney
2 good bet and an easy place to find them is a heated plume, anc.
3 t any place that you go in the temperate regions before the
4 ice comes or goes, you could see people fishing in this
5 area.
6 Now, the matter of avoidance of plumes: Some
7 like to work on lethal maximum temperatures of fishes. It
$ has no meaning as far as motile organisms are concerned —
9 in particular fishes with relation to the Zion plant —
10 because they are inappropriate to predict the effects when
11 a fish comes in contact with higher temperatures, because
12 motile organisms can and do react. In other words, they
13 behave. If the water is too warm for them, they avoid it;
!
14 if it is toward their preferred temperature, they will
15 enter it,
16 So a far more appropriate measure for fishes is
17 the upper avoidance temperature, and these experiments are
under way now by Bio-Test with the fishes that occur in
19 Lake Michigan, The Ichthyological Associates have also
i
20 done enough experiments on temperate fishes that we know
i
21 j and can predict what the effects would be,
22 Now, if we go into the literature just briefly
23 j _ and, as I say, so far in this field, I have studied more
than 4,000 references that have had to do with this subject,
I just point out a few of the results.
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E. Raney
2 The effects of a heated reactor on — or of a
3 heated effluent was studied at Hanford on the Columbia
River, Now, the plant at Hanford has been in operation for
5 25 years or more. The heated plume goes to the center of
i
6 the river which, quite by accident, was a good place
i
7 to put it, because salmon and trout, when migrating, take
j
8 their clues from along shore. On the other hand, shad,
9 eastern fish migrate in the channel,
i
10 Over that 25-year period, there were no thermal
11 kills of any significance observed according to the review
I
12 by Nakatani (1969)* Charles Coutant, whose name was taken
13 in vain, I am sure, by someone this afternoon, also worked
14 out there for several years. He drifted young chinook salmon^
i!
15 i which is a species that we have here, through the heated
16 effluent at Hanford, where as I recall the .A T is something
17 in the order of 20° to 25°. And the heated effluent produced
1° !{ no direct or latent mortalities. However, the upper temper—
19 ature was only 77°» which does not exceed the lethal limit
20 for chinook salmon,
21 In England, Alabaster made studies of fish mortalities
22 for 20 years. In 1969, he reported that, based upon field
and laboratory experiments, kills are extremely rare and
insignificant in the population sense. Now, I will get back
to this later in connection with some of the — I was going
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1 E. Raney
2 to say propaganda that we have had today about trout fishing,
3 Now, another very good example that I had the
4 pleasure of being associated with, as far as the study is
5 concerned, is the Connecticut River. The Connecticut Yankee
6 plant, which was referred to this afternoon, has been in
7 operation for about 5 years* Studies have been made in
8 depth in those 5 years and for the 2 years preceding the
9 operation of the plant, and there is a very extensive heated
10 plume there.
11 We have been able to find no evidence —• and we
12 have a lot of evidence — no evidence of any harmful effect,
13 either on resident or anadromous species.
14 Now, in summary, much of the sport fishery for
15 large species is based on stocking. It is slow* Much of
16 this work is done out of Ann Arbor. Their labor sometime
17 will be productive and we will return ultimately to a case
where we nave a natural population of lake trout.
19 i have lived on Cayuga Lake for the last 40 years.
Cayuga Lake is a minor edition of Lake Michigan, and we have
21 | lake lamprey and have had them since the ice went out 12,000
22 | years ago, and we don't have a very good lake trout fishing
and what we do have is based upon stocking. So I think
you can expect probably what is going to happen if you
2^ i! want lake trout is to continue to stock. I hope not. I
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o
i
c
7
12
13
14
16
17
13
19
20
21
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__ _ ______ 334
E, Raney
hope we have licked the lamprey problem. In the natural
experiment over 10,000 years it was not licked in Cayuga Lake
nor was it licked in Seneca Lake, which is another small
edition of Lake Michigan.
There is little or no spawning of lake trout and
other sport fisheries in the Zion area. Now, this is based
upon several years work by Bio-Test.
There are no tributaries that serve as a spawning
10 area for large salmonid fishes which occur in the Zion area,
I!
11 I I am thinking now of migratory species such as the coho,
chinook, sockeye salmon, that is called — lacustrine
samples which are called kokanee, and the newly-introduced
1972 Atlantic salmon.
15 |i You see basically what you have in Lake Michigan
now is nothing like your original fishery. lou are dealing
with a bunch of fish that have been brought in and hope
springs eternally and I do, too. I hope it is successful*
Now, most organisms, including fishes, because of
-che Zion plant, will be denied a very small area close to
the heated outfall. We admit this — up to about 6 acres
r
22 are going to be denied. However, even during the worst
summer conditions, the isotherms produced by using the
jet effluent indicate that outside a very small mixing
zone of approximately 5 or 6 acres most summer temperatures
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835-83 6
E. Raney
2 would be below the upper lethal limit for the fishes and
o associated organisms normally found in the Zion Plant area
in the summer.
Another important point: The shallow shore area
5 located near the Zion plant will not be blocked by tempera-
y ture increase, and the fishes which are normal inhabitants
of the habitat close to shore during the summer will be
9 unaffected, in my opinion,
10 Now, one of the things that people like to talk
11 about is the subtle effects in putting fishes under stress.
12 Well, most fishes most of the time are under one kind of
13 stress or another and, as one of the speakers this after-
14 noon mentioned 12 or 13 kinds of things that, if these
15 things happen bang, bang, bang, you will have no more
16 fishes. Well, you would have to have that happen over and
17 over and over again. In the Connecticut River, in the Hud-
son River and the Delaware River — and I can take you
19 places in the Delaware River where this has happened now
20 150 years, where you get 100 species of fish.
21 So that my point is that even under very critical
22 conditions, near the Zion plant, I predict that the fishes
23 will not be put under stress, that will make them more
24 susceptible to the predations of gulls or other predators
25 that might be present, with very few exceptions.
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_ ___ 837-838
£« Raney
The area near Zion, in summary, is not a unique
spawning ground for anything; it is not an important spawn-
4 ing ground for any of the large saimonid fishes, and except
5 j for a few acres, if it were, if by chance fishes chose to
6 I spawn there, they can do so seasonally without interruption,
i!
|!
7 i! I predict that there will be no permanent reduction in
8 species diversity by reason of having these heated plumes
9 j in the lake, including that at Zion, As a matter of fact,
j
10 you are going to increase the diversity of fishes because
11 | you are going to increase the potential number of habitats
12 that you will have. And as far as down-to-earth utiliza-
13 tion of resources, if you believe in using these things for
14 the good of man, I think that things will be improved,
i
15 One of the kind of things that you must always
realize when we are dealing with fishes is that they are
17 subject to great variations in year-class strata. You may
get one yellow perch year-class, which might arise from
19 very few spawners, which would produce enough young to
practically fill the lake. These fluctuations in year-
21 class are a natural phenomenon. They will always be with
!l
22 '
us. We are going to get variations from year to year,
03
J This is one of the reasons that it makes base line studies
[
2.L
so hard to do; this is the reason they need to be done
25
1 over such a long period of time.
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E, Raney
I am asked quite often by utility executives and
others: How long do you need to study it? As long as you
can; 10 years or more. There are a lot of young biologists
5 at work,
6 One of the concerns that has been expressed from
7 time to time is that the heated plume from Zion might have
an effect on the pier fishing for yellow perch in Lake
9 Michigan, and pier fishing in other areas. This is utter
10 nonsense. As compared with the year-class fluctuations,
11 the natural occurrence in the Delaware River, any possible
12 effect from the Zion plant would be miniscule,
13 Few eggs and larvae of fishes have been found in
14 the area. However, even with the utilization of this area
15 as it might sometime be, as a spawning ground, most of the
16 fishes will spawn in this area — all of the salmonid fishes,
17 all of the centrarchid fishes, sunfishes and bass, lay
adhesive eggs that are emersive — that is heavier than
19 water — and it is highly unlikely that these fishes would
20 pass through a condenser system,
21 All right. What if they do? Fishes vary in their
22 capacity to stand this trip not only as far as the tempera-
ture is concerned but because of turbulence, abrasion, and
pressure changes. Some are more sensitive than others,
2 5 one of the speakers this afternoon, without
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£. Raney
knowing very much about the background of the study, indi-
cated that at the end of a long canal, the Connecticut River,
^ all of the alewives and blueback herring were basically
5 dead —• and these were larval herring, basically a half an
6 inch long. This is absolutely true. But immediately after
7 the passage through the condenser, only about 30 to 35
percent of them were killed in various tribes. And we find
9 in our experiments on the Delaware that this is one of the
10 most sensitive of all larvae — the clupeid larvae.
j
11 i Now I assume that the alewife larvae Will be
12 there, and I assume that in many cases this will probably
13 be a blessing. I mean I would regard this as a plus if
14 some of these alewife larvae were so locked; they will be
15 utilized in the plume as food providing fishes are there.
16 Now what about fishes that are a little bit
17 bigger? Well, we hope that the chinook salmon will spawn
1& in the lake by the third year, but there isn't much chance
19 that this will come about, but we will assume that they do.
20 NOW chinook salmon were tested back in 1950 out
I
21 on the Pacific Coast condenser passage, and it was found
i
22 that they pass through a condenser system which is not unlike
that one at Zion, with 95 percent or more survival 10 days
after the trials were over. They actually were passed
through the condenser system. These were not simulated
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#41
1 E. Raney
2 experiments.
3 Two final points, in summary: Sudden changes in
4 temperature when Zion drops load in the winter will not
5 because of the jet discharge cause mortalities of fishes.
6 This has occurred in other places like Oyster Creek, which
7 I mentioned.
& Finally, because of the heated plume, the sport
9 fishery is expected to be extended in the fall and spring.
10 Now, many speakers today have talked about in-
11 takes and the proper design of intakes is a very serious
12 matter. I have been involved in consulting on intake
13 structures for some years. I have had a chance to look at
14 what has been designed in connection with Zion.
15 A net is going to be placed in such a position
16 around the intake that the velocity will only be 0.29
17 f.p.s. — a very low velocity. This, I predict, will keep
13 the large fish out. It is a one-inch mesh net.
19 Smaller fish will no doubt pass in and go into
20 the forebay. Now the problem of what to do with the fish
21 that get in there is under study. There are various types
22 of screening systems that are being studied. We know that
a product can be developed which will guide these fish to
a given place where they can be lifted out using an
elevator, or they can be pumped out in a food-handling
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5
7
1
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
IB
_ 842
E. Raney
pump.
Commonwealth Edison will be on top of this
problem; we are studying it. They are aware of what is
going on in the rest of the country, and if there is a
6 problem here, I feel confident that we can solve it.
One final remark has to do with some of the data
that we heard about this afternoon, taken out of context;
Does a fish kill damage the population?
Now, I think that some of my colleagues in
biology would say: Well, you know, if the bass bluegills
get out of balance in my farm pond, what do I do? I go in
and drain the pondj I kill them all off, and I start all
over again.
The same thing happens in rivers. Now, a speaker
this afternoon referred to the fact that 100,000 white
perch would be killed in a day in the Hudson River on the
screens at Indian Point, and this is true. It did happen.
19 That situation is being improved by new structures that
20 are going to be — that are being developed and will be put
21 in there.
However, and in my opinion — and I worked on
the Hudson River for more than 25 years — I think if it
would kill 100 million white perch, that the other 100 millio:i
2S
^ that are in there *— a 100 million plus or minus — would
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E» Raney
do a lot better. Why? Those that are in there now don't
do anything. In other words, they are stuntedj they are
runts; they are stinkin' small fish that at an age of 7 or
5 S years are only 5 inches long. These are good for nothing;
6 they are good to nobody; they compete with the striped bass
7 which is a noble fish. So please remember when you are talk-
ing about fish kills, these should be avoided at all costs
9 because of public relations, but not necessarily because
10 of the good of Maw population,
11 I see my counselor is giving me the signal,
12 (Laughter) He warned me long ago, and I speak too long,
13 | MR. FELDMAN: Mr. Mayo, the last two presentations
14 deal with cooling towers and their blowdown and both Mr.
15 Butler and Dr. Lee are prepared to summarize their state-
16 ments. I think it will not be long.
17 (Dr. Raney*s presentation follows in its
entirety.)
19
20
21
22
23
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25
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REMARKS ON HEATED DISCHARGES AND FISHES IN SOUTHWESTERN LAKE MICHIGAN IN THE
VICINITY OF THE ZION NUCLEAR POWER STATION
by
EDWARD C. RANEY
Ichthyological Associates
301 Forest Drive, Ithaca, New York 14850
This document was prepared for presentation to a meeting of the Four State
Conference to be held in Chicago, Illinois September 19-22, 1972. This statement
is presented on invitation by the Commonwealth Edison Company, Chicago, Illinois.
The observations, opinions and conclusions presented herein are mine and do not
necessarily represent the views of Commonwealth Edison Company.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
My name is Edward C. Raney. I am Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York and Director of Ichthyological Associates, Ithaca,
New York. I hold the Ph.D. degree in zoology (1938) from Cornell University.
My scientific specialty is the study of ecology, behavior and systematics of
fishes. Details of my qualifications in the field of ichthyology and aquatic
ecology were submitted to the Four State Conference held September 1970 when
I made a presentation entitled "Heated Discharges and Fishes in Lake Michigan."
Since I appeared before this conference in 1970, I have continued to make
and direct literature and field studies related to heated discharges and fishes.
In I .A. we have continued the review of literature which appeared as a published
bibliography in 1969 as "Heated Effluents and Effects on Aquatic Life and
Emphasis on Fishes" (Ichthyological Associates Bulletin No. 2, 1969, 470 pages,
1870 references). Continued search has produced more than 2,200 additional
references which will be available shortly as a computer print-out. Field
studies of aquatic habitats(reservoirs, rivers and ocean)with reference to present
or potential heated plumes have continued in the eastern United States. I have
either advised or have acted as director of projects on the Connecticut, Hudson,
Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, the upper Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake and
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Delaware Canal and the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey. Personnel of IchthyoLogical
Ass eiates have undertaken a series of experimental studies which include
determination of swim speed and stamina of fishes, swim speed and guidence capacity
si ocean fishes off southern California, laboratory experiments dealing with
!re.ttperature preference of fishes and their temperature avoidance or attraction,
and shock experiments. Similar experiments on preference, avoidance and
£ t iction for a number of chemicals and chemical bioassays are continuing.
T.e results of these have furnished insight with regard to the potential problems
in Lake Michigan near Zion.
During the past two years I have conferred with biologists and others
associated with Commonwealth Edison, and have had an opportunity to make sug-
gestions and read progress reports of studies being done off the Zion and
Waukegan plants by Industrial Bio-Tests Laboratories, Inc. Particularly I
aave consulted with Peter H. Howe, Biologist , Commonwealth Edison, Dr. Robert
G. Otto who has been doing experiments on temperature preference of fishes
found in Lake Michigan and have seen reports by and conferred with Michael C.
Cechran of Bio~Te- ;s who has studied fish populations in southwestern Lake
Michigan.
PREVIOUS PRESENTATION
In my presentation made before this conference in September 1970, I
discussed the history of the fish populations of Lake Michigan and generally
discussed temperature requirements of fishes, preferred temperature, lethel
temperature, winter temperature, avoidance temperature, and made a number of
predictions regarding behavior of fishes and the effects on fish populations
in reference to the Zion plume. In this presentation I will attempt to bring
you up-to-date with regard to the studies which have been made which will help
in explaining my position in regard to what some environmentalists have
thought would be a serious problem.
FISHES OF LAKE MICHIGAN
Great changes have occurred in Lake Michigan fisheries over the past
25 years. Many of the changes accompanied the introduction of the landlocked
form of the sea lamprey, the alewife and the smelt. The major changes in fish
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populations were not associated particularly with the industrial activities of
man but were mainly as a result of interaction of fish species. At times and
with some species commercial overfishing may have been important. Monumental
efforts appear to have brought the populations of lamprey under control.
Recently other species such as the coho, chinook and kokanee salmon, which are
native to the Pacific Coast, were introduced and in 1972 the Atlantic salmon
was introduced. The stocking programs also involve the lake trout and other
trouts.
FISH STOCKING IN 1972
Information supplied by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (Commercial
Fisheries Review for May-June 1972, Nos. 5 and 6, pages. 6-7), indicates
some 18.5 million hatchery-reared fish will be placed in the Great Lakes in
1972. This will be about a million fewer than the 1970 stocking. Salmon
will be released in all Great Lakes. The 9.7 million smolts or young salmon
will include 4.3 million chinook, about 4.1 million coho salmon, over 1.3 million
kokanee (which are lacustrine stocks of the sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka)
and about 39,000 Atlantic salmon. The latter came from Quebec and were released
In the Boyne and Ausable rivers in Michigan and in PikesCreek at Bayfield,
Wisconsin. Nearly 5 million lake trout (the most since 1968) were planted in
Lakes Superior and Michigan during the spring of 1972. The planting of lake trout
began in 1958 in Lake Superior and at the same time, tributary streams began to
receive lampricide treatment. Including those stocked in 1972 the 15 year total
for Lake Superior will exceed 32 million. Most of the stock is yearling lake
trout and is largely from U. S. hatcheries. Also stocked in the Great Lakes in
the spring of 1972 were 3.8 million other trout which included brown, rainbow,
steel and splake, The splake is a hybrid(lake trout-brook)trout. The rehabil-
itation of the lake trout fishery in Lake Michigan started in 1965 and plantings
to date total more than 16 million.
Lake Michigan received nearly 10.3 million stocked fish in 1972. This
included 2.9 million lake trout supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries
and Wildlife. The state of Michigan released nearly 5.3 million game fish in
Lake Michigan. Wisconsin released about 1.8 million fish into Lake Michigan
during the same period.
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A
RECENT FISHING IN LAKE MICHIGAN
The following comments are modified after those attributed to Dr. Wayne H.
Tody, Chief of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Fisheries Division.
(See release of the Great Lakes Basin Commission entitled "New Developments in
the Great Lakes Fisheries"). In Lake Michigan in 1972 the lake trout dominated
the open water sports fishing catch during May and early June. Catches of lake
trout 7 pounds or more were reported. The coho salmon fishing was exceptionally
good in early spring. The peak is usually about Labor Day near the parent streams,
The chinook salmon which is a species which is notably difficult to catch during
its life in the lake, entered the southern Lake Michigan fisheries in markedly
increased numbers in 1972. Specimens weighing 15 to more than 25 pounds were
caught in the early summer and those of more than 40 pounds are expected in
the fall runs. Runs of steelhead trout (rainbow) are entering suitable Michigan
streams and Tody reports that rainbow and brown trout are found in many of the
inshore bays. The yellow perch is increasing in numbers. It declined after
the decrease in numbers of the alewife was observed after 1968. None of the
above generalizations may be specifically applicable to the 2'ion area, but
fishery biologists hope that salmonid fishes will utilize the alewife and
other forage fishes such as the smelt. The expectation is that the sport or
recreational fisheries will continue to improve but that commercial fishing,
at least in southern Lake Michigan, will be greatly limited or non-existent
except possibly for the alewife.
FISH FAUNA IN THE ZION AREA
Studies were made by personnel of Industrial Bio-Tests Laboratories, Inc. of
fishes which occur in the Waukegan-Zion area. During the period from April
through December 1971 , those captured include the alewife (66.8%) by weight,
lake trout (12.4%), smelt (10.8%), bloater (6.1%). Those taken occasionally
included brown trout, lake whitefish, yellow perch, carp, white sucker, chinook
salmon and coho salmon. Those which were considered scarce were slimy sculpin,
lake herring, goldfish, spottail shiner, rainbow trout, brook trout, longnose
sucker, emerald shiner, trout-perch, golden shiner, longnose dace, ninespine
stickleback, mud minnow and johnny darter. Other species taken in the area
at other times include spoonhead sculpin, mottled sculpin, emerald shiner,
lake sturgeon and white fish.
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I pointed out in my 1970 presentation that a section of Lake Michigan
cannot be all things to all fishes at all times. The distribution of species
changes daily and with season. Much of this change appears to be associated
with the preferred temperature of the species, but other variables are involved
such as daily migrations, either vertically or inshore-offshore, the presence
and abundance of food organisms and the necessity for finding suitable spawning
substrate.
The inshore waters (up to possibly 20 feet) is an inhospitable environment
in the winter when water temperatures approach 32 F and other factors such as
bottom scour with high winds are adverse.
Off the Waukegan-Zion area the alewife has been found all months except
December. Smelt have been found during all months. However the abundance
may vary with species from month to month and place to place within the study
area. The lake trout is usually found in water 30 feet or deeper. The coho
salmon appears to be in the area mostly in June. Alewife, smelt and carp seem
to spawn to a moderate extent in the area. For Lake Michigan there is no lack
of suitable spawning substrate and nursery for these species. The yellow perch
has been scarce in recent years. Ultimately it may be found to spawn in the
Zion area, but this'remains to be demonstrated. None of the large important
fishes appear to spawn in the area. For some such as the lake trout the type
of spawning substrate (hard bottom) required is absent or very limited.
Fishes which are known to overwinter in the deeper water off shore, such
as alewife, bloater, smelt, salmon and trout, undertake spring migrations into
the shallows. The reverse was noted for the slimy sculpin.
The heated plume from the Waukegan discharge attracted young alewives and
several species of minnow, including the carp.
Water temperature in the depths offshore was more stable than those of
inshore waters during the period from April through December 1971. However
in the deeper water fluctuations during a month maybe as much as 5.4 F
(August to September at 90-foot depth in the Zion zone).
Water temperature at comparable depths at three north to south zones were
similar and differences were normally 3.6 F or less. I reemphasize my 1970
testimony that small differences in temperature, including those up to 5 F,
have little or no ecological significance to fishes found in Temperate regions.
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6
THERMAL PLUME AT ZION AND FISHES
The design of the cooling water system with a submerged jet as described
by Dr. Pritchard (April 1970) is such that at the area inside the 5 F isotherm
is less than six acres. The jet is designed so that within the 6 F isotherm,
the velocity approaches A fps. It is obvious that only a few acres would be
denied to fishes by this combination of high temperature and high velocity.
An advantage of the jet system is that no kills are predicted to occur because
of high temperatures alone — the so-called heat kills. Indeed such kills are
a rarity in nature with reference to cooling water at any power plants except
In situations with long discharge canals in which sudden and substantial
decreases in winter temperature occur. Such a situation does not occur at
Zion and indeed the time of entrainment of an organism as it passes into the
condenser until it reaches the 5 degree isotherm is short (approximately four
minutes). Because of the relative high velocity of the water within the 5
degree isotherm and because few fishes are predicted to be present in this
area close to the jet, sudden shutdowns in winter will not cause mortalities
(winter kill) of fishes. The maximum temperature decrease would be 6 F or
less. Even if it were a 10 F decrease the experimental evidence with fishes
indicates that this will not cause mortalities or undue stress. Under the!
jet conditions even if stressed a fish would quickly be carried out of the
area of maximum temperature.
MOVEMENT OF FISHES IN RELATION TO PLUMES
Field observations and experimental data indicate that a species of fish
which is acclimated to a given water temperature may move toward or away from a
higher or lower temperature, depending upon its preferred temperature. This
has been illustrated by the results of many experiments done since my last
presentation.
Fishes found in Lake Michigan may be grouped with regard to temperature
preferences into three groups. The so-called cold water fishes include the
trouts. salmons, smelt, bloater, whitefish, ninespine stickleback and slimy
sculpin. The contrast are those which prefer warm water such as large mouth
bass. spottail shiner, central mudminnow, carp, mottled sculpin and white
sucker. An intermediate group which prefer cool water include the alewife
and yellow perch. The smallmouth bass and burbot may be classified with
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cool water fishes. However the smallmouth is somewhat intermediate in
preference toward warm water while the burbot is intermediate in preference
toward cold water.
All of the fishes listed above live, in some part of its range, in
water where the winter temperature may vary between 32 and 40 F. or, all
can tolerate this temperature range, but none prefer it.
In Lake Michigan during the summer, the inshore waters and the upper
layers (epilimnion and thermocline) are warmer than is the deep water
(hypolimnion) which is essentially 40 F.
The distribution of the various fishes in spring and fall depends in
large part on the preferred temperature. They usually are found fairly
within a range of temperature close to their preferred temperature. The
position within this range may be modified to some extent by the previous
temperature to which the fish had been acclimated, and other factors such as
availability of water current, oxygen, food, and suitable spawning areas.
The behavior of the fishes of Lake Michigan toward a heated plume is
predicted to be basically the same as their reactions to the water in the
lake as it changes with season. Because they are able to discern small
differences , in temperature, they move toward their preferred temperature.
However, if the change in water temperature is too great they may stop or
move away from a higher or lower temperature until a degree of acclimation
is reached. These reactions have been noted in nature and have been de-
monstrated by experiments by Drs. John W. Meldrim and James J. Gift
(Ichthological Associates Bulletin 7).
For example, specimens of the largemouth bass which is classified as
a warm water fish, were acclimated to 77 F on July 8, avoided a temperature
of 87 F, while on July 16 at the same acclimation temperature they avoided
91 F.
The yellow perch which may be classified as a cool water fish, after
being acclimated to 77 F on July 13 it avoid 93 F and on July 21 when
acclimated to 77 F avoided 92 F.
Experiments with the alewife, which is classified as preferring cool
water, show that the avoidance temperature may vary with the acclimation
temperature. For example on 5 August specimens of the alewife acclimated
to 77 J1 avoided water of 86 F. On 21 October those acclimated to 64 F
avoided water at 76 F. On 3 November those acclimated to 63 F avoided 79 F.
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8
A closer look at the same experiments illustrates attraction to a higher
temperature. In August, six specimens of alewife were acclimated at 77 F for
48 hours. They were introduced into an experimental apparatus where the water
temperature was 74 F, and they were offered two alternatives, 74 F or 82 F.
They proceeded to the area and occupied water of 82 F. After a short period,
these same six specimens were introduced into a similar experimental tank
where the water temperature was 80 F, but where the alternative temperature
of 86 F was available. The latter temperature was avoided.
In another experiment in August, the results were similar. Six specimens
were acclimated at 77 F, introduced into water of 75 F, and were attracted to
water 83 F. A short time later the same fishes were placed in water of 80 F.
They avoided the alternative temperature which was 86 F. In the above experi-
ments the water temperatures exceeded those generally expected in Lake Michigan.
However, it illustrates the expected reaction of a species, such as the alewife,
if and when it comes close to a heated plume. Anxiety with regard to an expected
large mortality of the alewife near heated plumes is unfounded and except under
unusual conditions such as crowding little mortality is expected.
Knowledge of the final preferendum temperature, which is the temperature
to which a fish will go when given an unlimited time to acclimate , enables
predictions of what will happen near a heated plume in Lake Michigan.
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Table 1.— The final Preferred Temperature in degrees F for various Species
of Fishes Found in Lake Michigan. Modified after Ferguson, 1958.
Species
Carp
Smalimouth Bass
Yellow Perch
Muskel lunge
Burbot
Yellow Perch
Brown Trout
Brook Trout
Sockcye Salmon
Rainbow Trout
Whitefish
Lake Trout
Chinook Salmon
Final Preferendum
89
82
75
75
70
70
54-63
57-61
58
56
55
54
53
Authority
Pitt, Garside and Hepburn (1956)
Fry (Ms., 1950)
Ferguson (1958)
Jackson and Price (Ms., 1949)
Grossman, e± al_. (Ms., 1953)
McCracken and Sparkraan (Ms., 1948)
Tait (Ms., 1958)
Graham (1948), Fisher and Elson (1950
Brett (1951)
Garside and Tait (Ms., 1958)
Tompkins and Fraser (Ms.? 1950)
McCauley and Tait (Ms., 1956)
Brett (1951)
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10
The plume will vary in temperature with the seasons. During the summer it will
be attractive to warm water fishes provided they come into contact with a gradient
at the edge of the plume. In the plume adjacent to the Waukegan discharge during
the summer fishes classified as warm water and some cool water species have been
found.
During late fall, winter and early spring when the warmest natural water in
Lake Michigan is close to 40 F, the so-called coldwater fishes which prefer water
in the 53 - 63 F range (see Table 1) may be found around the periphery of a
heated plume. However, they would be found there only if their inshore-offshore
migrations were such that they had an opportunity to sense the gradient leading
to the plume.
In summer the alewife, yellow perch and other fishes which prefer warm
water would be found in the outer part of the plume.
It is predicted that the heated plumes from all large plants on Lake
Michigan will produce plume conditions which will concentrate game fishes in
areas where they may be more readily taken by anglers. This has been the
almost universal experience with heated plumes in temperate regions of the world.
AVOIDANCE OF PLUMES
Lethal maximum temperatures for motile organisms such as fishes are
inappropriate to predict the effects when such species encounter higher
temperatures (plumes), because such a measure ignores the behavior of the
organisms and the period of time which an organism might be in contact with
such a temperature. It is proper to use such a measure only for organisms
which cannot avoid, and which remain, in the increased temperatures. A far
more appropriate measure for fishes is the upper avoidance temperature.
Recent observations at large power stations discharging relatively large
volumes of heated water confirm the absence or rarity of thermal fish kills
or of serious biological change.
The effect of the heated reactor effluent at Hanford on the Columbia River
was observed on salmon and trout over a 25 year period. No thermal kills of any
significance were observed according to the review by Nakatani (1969). Live
box tests in the Columbia River by Coutant et al, (1968) with young chinook
salmon in a heated effluent produced no direct or latent mortalities, but the
temperature rises did not exceed the lethal limit for this salmon (77 F).
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11
In England, Alabaster (1969) made studies of fish mortalities, both in
the laboratory and in the field, and reported that kills under field conditions
are extremely rare and insignificant in a populational sense.
Neither have thermal kills or other harmful ecological effects been observed
on the lower Connecticut River in connection with the operations of the Connecticut
Yankee Power Plant, as reported by Merriman (1970).
Field observations on young american shad in the Connecticut River have been
confirmed by experimental work done by Moss (1970). Variations in temperature
up to 5 F elicit little or no response in young shad. Temperature changes
greater than 5 F are avoided.
Other extensive studies by Meldrim and Gift (1971) and Gift and Westman
(1971) indicate similar behavior for fishes.
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SUMMARY
1. Much of the present sport fishery for large species is based
on stocking.
2. There is no or little spawning of lake trout and other large
sport fishes in the Zion area.
3. No tributaries which serve as a spawning area for large salmonid
fishes occur in the Zion area.
4. Most organisms including fishes will be denied a very small area
close to the heated outfall at Zion.
5. Even during the worst summer conditions the isotherms produced by
using a jet effluent indicated that outside a small mixing zone of approximately
4-5 acres near the effluent most summer water temperatures would be below
the upper lethal temperatures for the fishes and associated organisms normally
found near the Zion plant in the summer.
6. The shallow shore area located near the Zion plant will not be
blocked by temperature, and the fishes which are normal inhabitants of the
habitat close to shore during the warmer summer months will be unaffected.
7. Even under the most critical summer conditions it is predicted that
the fishes or other biota will not be placed under serious stress, which would
affect the size or the quality of the populations.
8. The area near Zion is not a unique or important spawning ground but,
except for a few acres, the seasonal temperature requirements for reproduction
and other aspects of the life history of the fishes which are seasonally present
in the Zion area are predicted to be satisfactory.
9. Fishes which normally live in the Zion area are adapted to the changes
in temperature which occurs in the environment at the several seasons and may
avoid, be attracted to or not react to temperatures in various parts of the plume,
10. No permanent reduction in species diversity in fishes or associated
biota is predicted either in the vicinity of the plant or in the Lake in general
due to the operation Zion.
11. Compared to natural changes including year class fluctuations, any
change in fish populations which might be attributed to the effect of heated
effluents would be miniscule and insignificant to a commercial or sport fishery.
12. The heated effluents from nuclear power plants will not affect the
"pier" fishing for yellow perch in Lake Michigan. The fishery has fluctuated
greatly over the years and is expected to continue to do so.
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13
13. Few eggs and larvae of fishes have been found in the area.
The fast passage through the condenser system is expected to cause little
mortality to larvae.
14. Young fishes may pass through the condenser with a relatively high rise
(20 F) but fast passage (approximately 4 minutes) with little mortality. In
experiments with chinook salmon, 95% or more survived for ten days after the
trials.
15. Sudden temperature changes when Zion suddenly drops load in winter
will not because of the jet discharge cause mortalities of fishes.
16. Because of the heated plume the sport fishery is expected to be
extended in fall and early spring.
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14
REFERENCES
Alabaster, John S. 1969. Effects of heated discharges on freshwater fish
in Britain. In: Biological Aspects of Thermal Pollution, Vanderbilt
Univ. Pres, Chap. 11:354-370.
Alabaster, J. S., and A. L. Downing. 1966. A field and laboratory investigation
of the effect of heated effluents on fish. Fish. Invest. (Min. of
Agr., Fish, and Food, U. S.) Ser. I, 6(4):42 p.
Coutant, C. C., C. D. Becker and E. F. Prentice. 1969. Biological effects
of thermal discharges (Ann. Prog. Rep. 1968). Battelle Mem. Inst.,
Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, Wash., Rep. No. BNWL-1050. 49 p.
Ferguson, R. G. 1958. The preferred temperature of fish and their mid-
summer distribution in temperate lakes and streams. J. Fish
Res. Bd. Canada. 15(4):608-624.
Gift, James J. and James R. Westman. 1971. Responses of some estuarine
fishes to increasing thermal gradients. Dept. Env. Sciences Rutgers. 1-154.
Meldrim, John W. and James J. Gift. 1971. Temperature preference and
avoidance responses and shock experiments with estuarine fishes.
Ichthyological Associates Bull. 7. 1-75.
Merriman, D. 1970. The calefaction of a river. Sci. Amer. 222(5):42-52.
Moss, Sanford A. 1970. The responses of young American shad to rapid temperature
changes. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 99(2):381-384.
Moyer, Stanley and Edward C. Raney. 1969. Thermal discharges from a large
nuclear plant. Jour. Sanit. Eng. Div. A. S. Civil Eng. SA6:1131-1163.
Nakatani, R. D. 1969. Effects of heated discharges on anadromous fishes.
In: Biological Aspects of Thermal Pollution. Vanderbilt Univ. Press,
Chap. 10:294-337.
Raney, E. C., and B. W. Menzel. 1969. Heated effluents arid effects on aquatic
life with emphasis on fishes. A bibliography. Cornell Univ.
Water Res. Mar. Sci. Cent., Phila. Elect. Co., Ichthyol. Ass. Bull.
No. 2. 470 p.
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344
1 0. Butler
2
STATEMENT OF OLIVER D. BUTLER
GLEN ELLIN, ILLINOIS
MR. BUTLER: Mr, Chairman, conferees, ladies and
7
gentlemen. My name is Oliver D, Butler, I reside at 912
Waverly Road, Glen JEllyn, Illinois,
Q
I appeared before this conference in September
1970 for the purpose of presenting cost estimates for
closed cooling system alternatives for Commonwealth
12
Edison's Zion station,
13
During the October 1970 and March 1971 conference
14
proceedings, cost estimates were also presented by Dr.
15
Tichenor of the Pacific Northwest Water Laboratory which
16
he had prepared at the request of the Federal Water Quality
17
Administration,
18
Subsequent to Dr, Tichenor's first appearance, we
19
contacted him to obtain the detailed cost breakdown used
20
in the Federal Water Quality Administration report. This
21
information was carefully analyzed and a comparison of the
22
Federal Water Quality Administration and Commonwealth
23
Edison figures was prepared. This cost comparison was
24
forwarded to the conference in April 1971 for incorporation
25
into the conference record. This incorporation did not
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a
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845
0. Butler
occur — at least not in our copy of the proceedings, I
have come back to put that material before you. I also
want to update those estimates.
The first comparison I want to make is shown on
Exhibit A and is a cost comparison relating to dry mechanical
draft cooling towers, (See p. 846) Our figures are about
8 times higher than the Federal Water Quality Administration
estimates, I can give you the reasons for that in detail,
but I have a strong feeling that there is now general
agreement that dry towers are out of the picture.
The prepared paper lists some of the reasons of
why our estimate is higher. In the interest of time, I will
omit reading that and go on to the other estimate.
We have also prepared a cost estimate for round
wet mechanical draft cooling towers. That is shown in
Exhibit B to ray paper. (See p, 847) It shows a total cost
of $124 million. This compares with the estimate that was
submitted for the record in April 1971 of $116 million.
The difference is inflation and some relatively minor
changes each way in certain cost elements. The following
factors are relevant to the comparison of FWQA's results
and ours:
1. Our costs are based on backfitting the
25 ''
24
existing Zion installation. Theirs were for optimum design
-------
Costs (In Frccr.s of Once-Through)
I. Capital Investment Costs
a. Punps & Recovery turbines
b. Basic Tower Units
cf Footings
d. Controls
e. Piping, Valves & Tanks
. 1) Backfitting Piping6
f. Land Costs
g. Road & Track Work*
h. Earthwork5
i. Yard drainage, underground
interference, & fence-
work
j. Electrical
k. Contingencies
j.. Tup Clio.A't,e5
Subtotal
II. Operating & Maintenance Costs^
a. Loss of Capability
b. Increased fuel costs
c. Maintenance
Subtotal
II. Total Cost (Capital Inv. &
Oper. & Haint.)
COST CO;.TAPI:;ON'
ALTERNATE
Interior
Dollars
1,360,000
10,200,000
Included
510,000
1,700,000
-
-
-
—
-
Included in
3,230,000
•* .. ..•» .. .» . .1 t ..
J-liC-LUUC-U J.IJ
17,000,000
7,000,000
12,827,500
Included in
19,827,500
KSAJ!" 0? COOLIIIC
Dry Mechanical
DePt. Hcrort1'
Hills/
C/KW K'.s'HR
1.36 .03
10.20 .20
in b. above
.51 .01
1.70 .03
-
•-
-
mm •»
_
a,b,d,&e above
3.23 .06
.fxi. t"jlj v c
17.0 .33
7.0 .14
12.83 .25
b. above
19.83 .39
Exhibit A
Dated 9-72
Draft Coolin-t Tov;ers
C.E.Co
Dollars
Included
150,000,000
3,300,000
1,750,000
29,200,000
23,230,000
6,400,000
2,450,000
31,000,000
790,000
.49,201,000
7,125,000
33,056,000
342,502,000
90,043,000
22,294,000
9,043,000
121,380,000
. Studies2
S/KW
in e^ below
68.18
1.50
0.80
13.27
10.56
2.91
1.11
14.09
.36
22.36
3.24
17. 30
155.60
40.93
10.13
4.11
55.17
Mills/
KV/HR
1.79
.04
.02
.35
.28
.08
.03
.37
.01
.59
.08
.45
4.09
1.07
0.27
0.11
1.44
.72
36,827,500 36.83
Kotes: 1. Estimates based on 1,000 nw - fossil unit
2. Estimates based on 2,200 inw - nuclear unit (Zion)
463,882,000 210.85 5.54
3. Earthwork includes items such as overburden raroval, dewaterin--;, excavation for
Circulating water piping L tover footings, and compacted fill i'or ror.ds & towers
4. Land cost estimated at SlO,000/acre
5.
6.
7.
Road £ track work includes relocation of exist:;-.,- ror.ds, protection of circula-
ting water piping at road crossings & alteration of track spur
Backfitting piping includes such itcr.s as modification to cxist:ng service water
eysten, alteration of existing submerged circulating water intake piping, and ne,
booster pulping stations
Cost breakdown reference - October ]6, 1970, Letter-Bruce Tichcnor, Pacific llo~th-
wcct Laboratory to 0. D. Butler, C.E.Co.
ew
8. Costs arc listed in equivalent invcstuent dol^.ars.
-------
Exhibit B
Dated 9-72
ALTERNATE I-MANS OF CCOLING
0-"ts (In Excess of Once-Through)
Wet Mechanical Draft Coolinr Towers
Case II
Interior Dent. Report
1
I. Capital Investment Costs
a. Condensers &, Pumps
b. Basic Tower Units
c. Footings
d. Piping & Valves
1) Backfitting piping'
,4
,5
3,100,000 1.41
8,100,000 3.67
Included in b_._ above
Included in a. above
Kills/
K.;HR
.027
.072
e. Earthwork
f. Road & Trackwork
g
Yard drainage, under-
ground interferences &
fencing
h. Electrical
i. Contingencies
j. Top-charges
Subtotal
II. Operating & Maintenance Costs
a. Loss of Capability
•7
b. Increased fuel costs
7
c. Maintenance
Subtotal
III. Total Costs (Capital Inv. &
Oper. & Haint.)
Included in a. &'b_._ above
Included in a.&b. above
Included in a.&b. above
11,200,000 5.08 .099
1,010,000 0.46 .009
Included in b. above
1,010,000 0.46 .009
12,210,000 5.54
.108
C.E.Co. Studio
Dollars £/KW
Included in d_._ below
18,000,000 8.18
Included in b. above
0.236
Notes
11,700,000
21,138,000
12,950,000
365,000
260,000
1,950,000
1,835,000
10,222,000
78,420,000
34,105 ,000
11,037,000
464 ,000
45,606 ,000
124,026 ,000
5.32
9.61
5.89
0.17
0.12
0.89
0.88
4.65
35.65
15.50
5.02
0.21
20.73
56.38
ff. (2.2 scale-up) (new
0.153
0.277
0.170
0.005
0.003
0.026
0.024
0.134
' 1.028
0.45
0.14
0.01
0.60
1.63
site)
2. Based on Zion 2200 mw nuclear 72;= cap. factor 33£ eff. (backfit)
3. Backfitting piping includes such items as modification to existin,: service
water system, chun/.ing of existing submerged circulating water intake piping,
and new booster pucping stations
4. Earthwork includes such itcrss as overburden renoval, dcv,ratering, excavation
for circulating water piping and tower footings, and compacted fill for road-
ways and to'./ers
5. Road & track.vork includes relocation of existing roa.;u, protection of circula-
ting water piping at road crossings and railroaJ spur alterations
6. C.E.Co. :stu--.y is based on uce ol a hybrid roun) mechr-.nic-al draft tower with
250' hyperoolic uircnarge stack for plume disper:al
7. Costo are listed in equivalent investment dollars.
-------
7
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
343
0, Butler
of a new plant,
2. We have calculated costs on the basis of using
250-feet high/ round, wet, mechanical draft cooling towers.
These towers have been considered because of the airport
height problem at Zion which 1 discussed in my 1970 testi-
mony. The tower manufacturer does not predict satisfactory
performance of a 250-foot natural draft tower at the Zion
location. We and the manufacturer feel that the new design
concept offers a better solution to fogging and height
restriction problems at the Zion location than either con-
ventional mechanical draft or natural draft towers. This
design also disfigures the site less than the tall towers
would.
The 250-foot mechanical draft towers, which would
use fans in a hyperbolic shell, are considerably more expen-
sive than conventional mechanical draft cooling towers but
not appreciably different in cost than our estimate for
natural draft towers. The soil conditions and grotmd load-
ing requirements of these structures increase the cost of
their installation over conventional mechanical draft towers
at the Zion location. It should be noted that although we
have compared to Federal Water Quality Administration figures
for conventional wet mechanical draft towers, our cost
25
estimate considerably exceeds the Federal Water Quality
-------
„ $49
1 0, Butler
2 Administration's natural draft tower cost estimates*
3 3» The Federal Water Quality Administration report
4 does not consider a charge for loss of capability for any
5 of the "wet" cooling alternatives. Compared to once-through
6 cooling on Lake Michigan, this charge is substantial and
7 should be considered* Our turbines at Zion were specifi-
cally designed to fully utilize the effect of the relatively
9 cool Lake Michigan water
10 4* Our charges for loss of capacity utilize the
11 average cost of Zion, which is $207 per kilowatt* It seems
12 clear to me that the real cost, when you lose part of a
13 base load plant, is in base load, rather than peaking
14 capacity, and that the Zion cost is the one that we should
use. Later plants have had much higher costs per kilowatt
16 of capacity and to replace base load nuclear capacity lost
17 by a cooling tower installation, starting today, it would
cost nearly twice the cost I have used,
19 We originally pointed out that it was necessary
20 -fcO recognize the substantial extra costs of backfitting when
21 adding a closed cooling system to an existing plant. Our
22 original estimate of $116,855,000, which is now $124,026,000,
23 has been confirmed by estimates and actual experience of
9L
* other utilities which are in the process of trying to back-
25 fit stations on Lake Michigan, I refer to pages 103 and 109
-------
a 50
I 0. Butler
2 in the "Summary of Recent Technical Information Concerning
3 Thermal Discharges to Lake Michigan," which is part of the
4 Environmental Protection Agency presentation to you, I
5 read that actual cost experience is indicating that the esti-
6 mates I have just given you may be low, and are unlikely to
7 be high.
8 I would also point out that Dr. Tichenor is quoted
9 in that report as now agreeing that backfitting will cost
10 three times as much as building a plant designed for towers.
11 He has increased his original estimate from 0.2 mill per
12 kilowatt hour in October 1970 to 0.6 mills per kilowatt
13 hour (referring to page 105 of the previously referenced
14 report). His old estimate for an optimized plant designed
15 for cooling towers was 12 times less than my estimate. He
16 is now only one time less — i.e., just about half of our
17 figure. I am pleased to see that he has become more
realistic, and I am sure that if he could take up the
invitation we have repeatedly extended to EPA to come see
20 the Zion site, and to determine with us just how hard it is
21 to turn a plant entirely around in order to cool it by dif-
22 ferent means, he would take the last step and raise his
estimate one more multiple. We would, then, be in agree-
ment.
In the interest of time, I will confine ray
-------
851
1 0, Butler
2 discussion of Exhibit B to point out some of the significant
3 differences between the FWQA estimates and the estimates
^ that I submit:
5 1. Referring to Exhibit B, the costs in dollars
6 in column 1 are taken from Dr. Tichenor*s 1970 figures,
7 His figures, however, were costs for a 1,000 m nuclear
8 unit. The fourth column is for Zion station, a 2,200 MW
9 nuclear unit* Because Zion is 2.2 times the size of the
10 plant estimated by Dr. Tichenor, we have multiplied Dr.
11 Tichenor's costs by 2.2 to make the figures more easily
12 comparable. I do not know if he would agree that a straight
13 multiplication was the way to do it. One can also compare
14 the two estimates by looking at the last line entry at the
15 bottom of the page, where both dollar costs are converted
16 to mills per kilowatt hour. That figure has not been
17 multiplied by 2.2,
IS 2. Item I(b) is the cost of the basic tower unit.
19 We are less far apart here than in some other areas, and,
20 as I said earlier, the actual figures coming in on other
21 plants are roughly like our figures, not the Federal Water
22 Quality Administration's.
23 | 3. items I(c), (d), and (e) represent backfitting
and site work not included in the Federal Water Quality
Administration estimates. They come to somewhat more than
-------
352
«!_ 0. Butler
2 twice the basic tower cost, a figure not too far removed
3 from Dr. Tichenor's estimate, quoted by the Argonne
4 Laboratory, that backfitting triples the cost.
5 4. Finally, Item II(a) gives our cost estimate
6 for loss of capacity, a factor which the Federal Water
7 Quality Administration omitted. This loss is $34 million
8 in the case of Zion. That is a factor which would largely
9 not occur in a plant originally designed for cooling towers.
10 It is both a very large dollar amount and one we feel
11 strongly about.
12 I hope that this data will help you make your
13 judgments based on the real costs to a real plant.
14 That is the end of my prepared testimony.
15 MR. MAYO: Thank you, Mr. Butler.
16 (Mr. Butler's presentation follows in its
17 entirety.)
IB
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
-------
September 1972
STATEMENT OF OLIVER D. BUTLER
My name is Oliver D. Butler. I reside at 912 Waverly
Road, Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
I appeared before this conference in September 1970 for
the purpose of presenting cost estimates for closed-cooling system
alternatives for Commonwealth Edison's Zion Station. In April
1971 cost estimates for back-fitting closed-cooling systems to
our Waukegan and State Line generating stations was submitted to
the conference for the record. During the October 1970 and
March 1971 conference proceedings, cost estimates were presented
by Dr. Tichenor of the Pacific Northwest Water Laboratory which
he had prepared at the request of the Federal Water Quality
Administration.
Subsequent to his first appearance, we contacted
Dr. Tichenor to obtain the detailed cost breakdown used in the
Federal Water Quality Administration report. This information was
carefully analyzed and a comparison of the Federal Water Quality
Administration and Commonwealth Edison figures was prepared. This
cost comparison was forwarded to the conference in April 1971 for
incorporation into the conference record. This incorporation did
not occur, at least not in our copy of the proceedings. I have
come back to put that material before you. I also want to update
those estimates.
The first comparison I want to make is shown on Exhibit A
and is a cost comparision relating to dry mechanical draft cooling
towers. Our figures are about 8 times higher than the Federal
Water Quality Administration estimates. I can give you the
-------
- 2 -
reasons for that in detail, but I have a strong feeling that
there is now qeneral agreement that dry towers are out of the
picture. I would point out that dry towers really need a direct
contact condenser. We would have to delay operation for about
two years in order to tear out our present condensers and obtain
new ones of the direct contact type - if some manufacturer is
willing to undertake ones of this size. For the record/ our cost
estimate, in equivalent investment dollars, is $463,882,000.
Exhibit A shows the breakdown of those costs. These cost estimates
nave not been updated from the April 1971 data submission.
Let me emphasize that, except for capacity losses, our
cost estimates are still design estimates. These are not shelf
items, and it is difficult to know the cost of building a one of
a kind item until the project is completed. This is especially
true if nothing comparable in size has ever been built before.
We have also prepared a cost comparison for round wet
mechanical draft cooling towers. It is shown in Exhibit B. It
shows a total cost of $124 million dollars. This compares with
the estimate that was submitted for the record in April 1971 of
$116 million. The difference is inflation and some relatively
minor changes each way in certain cost elements. The following
factors are relevant to the comparison of FWQA's results and ours:
1. Our costs are based on back-fitting the existing
Zion installation. Theirs were for optimum
design of a new plant.
2. We have calculated costs on the basis of using
250 ft. high, round, wet, mechanical draft
cooling towers. These towers have been considered
because of the airport height problem at Zion which
-------
- 3 -
I discussed in my 1970 testimony. The tower
manufacturer does not predict satisfactory per-
formance of a 250 ft. natural draft tower at the
Zion location. We and the manufacturer feel that
the new design concept offers a better solution
to fogging and height restriction problems at the
Zion location than either conventional mechanical
draft or natural draft towers. This design also
disfigures the site less than the tall towers would.
The 250 ft. mechanical draft towers, which would
use fans in a hyperbolic shell, are considerably
more expensive than conventional mechanical draft
cooling towers but not appreciably different irx
cost than our estimate for natural draft towers.
The soil conditions and ground loading requirements
of these structures increase the cost of their
installation over conventional mechanical draft
towers at the Zion location. It should be noted
that although we have compared to Federal Water
Quality Administration figures for conventional
wet mechanical draft towers, our cost estimate
considerably exceeds the Federal Water Quality
Administration's natural draft tower cost estimates.
3. The Federal Water Quality Administration report
does not consider a charge for loss of capability
for any of the "wet" cooling alternatives. Compared
to once-through cooling on Lake Michigan, this
charge is substantial and should be considered.
Our turbines at Zion were specifically designed to
-------
- 4 -
fully utilize the effect of the relatively cool
Lake Michigan water.
4. Our charges for loss of capacity utilize the average
cost of Zion, which is $207 per kilowatt. It seems
clear to me that the real cost, when you lose part
of a base load plant, is in base load, rather than
peaking capacity, and that the Zion cost is the
one to use. Later plants have had much higher
costs per kilowatt of capacity and to replace base
load nuclear capacity lost by a cooling tower
installation, starting today, would cost nearly
twice the cost I have used.
We originally pointed out that it was necessary to re-
cognize the substantial extra costs of backfitting when adding
a closed cooling system to an existing plant. Our original es-
timate of $116,855,000 which is now $124,026,000 has been con-
firmed by estimates and actual experience of other utilities
which are in the process of trying to backfit stations on Lake
Michigan. I refer to pages 108 and 109 in the Summary of Recent
Technical Information Concerning Thermal Discharges to Lake
Michigan, which is part of the Environmental Protection Agency
presentation to you. I read that actual cost experience is
indicating that the estimates I have just given you may be low,
and are unlikely to be high.
I would also point out that Dr. Tichenor is quoted in
that report as now agreeing that back-fitting will cost three
times as much as building a plant designed for towers. He has
increased his original estimate from 0.2 mill kw/hour (October
1970) to 0.6 mills/kw hour (p. 105 of the previously referenced
-------
- 5 -
report). His old estimate for an optimized plant designed for
cooling towers was 12 times less than my estimate. He is now
only one time less - that is, just about half of our figure. I
am pleased to see that he has become more realistic, and I am
sure that if he could take up the invitation we have repeatedly
extended to EPA to come see the Zion site, and determine with.
us just how hard it is to turn a plant entirely around in order
to cool it by different means, he would take the last step and
raise his estimate one more multiple. We would then be in
agreement.
I suspect I should take you through the cost comparison
shown on Exhibit B line by line, because it is complicated. I
am willing to take you through the detail behind each of those
entries. Perhaps it is appropriate, however, if I point out
some major differences.
(1) Referring to Exhibit B, the costs in dollars in
column 1, are taken from Dr. Tichenor's 1970 figures. Those,
however, were costs for a 1000 raw nuclear unit. The fourth column
is for Zion station, a 2200 mw nuclear unit. Because Zion is
2.2 times the size of the plant estimated by Dr. Tichenor we have
multiplied Dr. Tichenor's costs by 2.2, to make the figures more
easily comparable. I do not know if he would agree that a
straight multiplication was the way to do it. One can also
compare the two estimates by looking at the last line entry at
the bottom of the page, where both dollar costs are converted
to mills per kilowatt hour. That figure has not been multiplied
by 2.2.
-------
- 6 -
(2) Item I(b) is the cost of the basic tower unit.
We are less far apart here than in some other areas, and as I
said earlier, the actual figures coming in on other plants are
roughly like our figures, not the Federal Water Quality
Administration's.
(3) Items I(c) (d) and (e) represent back-fitting and
site work not included in the Federal Water Quality Administration
estimates. They come to somewhat more than twice the basic tower
cost, a figure not too far removed from Dr. Tichenor's estimate,
quoted by Argonne Laboratory, that back-fitting triples the cost.
(4) Finally, Item II (a) gives our cost estimate for
loss of capacity, a factor which the Federal Water Qualit"
Administration omitted. The loss is $34 million. That is a
factor which would largely not occur in a plant originally
designed for cooling towers. It is both a very large dollar
amount, and one we feel strongly about.
I hope that this data will help you make your judgments
based on the real costs to a real plant.
-------
Costs (in Prcors of Once-Through)
I. Capital Investment Costs
a. Punps & Recovery turbines
b. Basic Tower Units
ct Footings
d. Controls
e. Piping, Valves & Tanks
. l) Backfitting Piping6
f. land Costs*
Road & Track Work
g«
h.
Earthwork'
i. Yard drainage, underground
Interference, & fence-
work
3. Electrical
k. Contingencies
1. "op CJioi-^eo
Subtotal
II. Operating & Maintenance Costs8
a. loss of Capability
\>. Increased fuel costs
c. Maintenance
Subtotal
III. Total Cost (Capital Inv. &
Oper. & Haint.) 36,827,500 36.83
Notes; 1. Estimates based on 1,000 nw - fossil unit
COST
ALTERNATE
Interior
Dollars
1,360,000
10,200,000
Included
510,000
1,700,000
-
-
-
-
-
Included in
3,230,000
laoluficfi in
17,000,000
7,000,000
12,827,500
Included in
19,827,500
COMPARISON
KKAfn 0? -COOT.1KC
Dry Mechanical
1 '7
Dent. Rerort '
Hills/
C/KW KWKR
1.36 .03
10.20 .20
in b_._ above
.51 .01
1.70 .03
-
-
-
-
-
a,b,d,&e above
3.23 .06
f', CkuGVC
17.0 .33
7.0 .14
12.83 .25
b_._ above
19.83 .39
Exhibit A
Elated 9-?2
Draft Coolin-7 Towers
C.E.Co
Dollars
Included
150,000,000
3,300,000
1,750,000
29,200,000
23,230,000
6,400,000
2,450,000
31,000,000
790,000
.49,201,000
7,125,000
33,056,000
342,502,000
90,043,000
22,294,000
9,043,000
121,380,000
. Studies2
S/KW
in e. below
68.18
1.50
0.80
13.27
10.56
2.91
1.11
14.09
.36
22.36
3.24
17. 30
155.68
40.93
10.13
4.11
55.17
Hills/
K'.YHR
1.79
.04
.02
.35
.28
.08
.03
.37
.01
.59
.08
.45
4.09
1.07
0.27
0.11
1.44
.72
463,882,000 210.85 5.54
2. Estimates based on 2,200 ir.w - nuclear unit (Zion)
3. Earthwork includes itcras such as overburden r3r>oval, dewaterinn, excavation for
circulating water piping L tover footings, and compacted fill lor ror.ds & towers
4. land cost estimated at SlO,000/acre
5. Road & track work includes relocation of exist Jr.,;: roads, protection of circula-
ting water piping at road crossings & alteration of track spur
6. Backfittjng piping includes such itcr-.s as modification to existing service water
Bysten, alteration of existing submerged circulating water intake piping, and new
booster pulping stations
7. Coct breakdown reference - October 36, 1970, Letter-Bruce Tichenor, Pacific llorth-
wcst Laboratory to 0. 1). Butler, C.K.Co.
8. Costs arc listed in equivalent investment dollars.
-------
COJT COMPARISON
ALTERNATE KKANS OF CCOLIHG
Exhibit B
Dated 9-72
°*>sta (In Excess of Once-Through)
Wet Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers
Case II
Interior Dent. Report
I. Capital Investment Costs
a. Cond2i*.3ers & Pumps
b. Basic Tower Units
c. Footings
d. Piping & Valves
1) Backfitting piping5
e. Earthwork
f. Road & Trackwork-'
g. Yard drainage, under-
ground interferences &
fencing
h. Electrical
1. Contingencies
j. Top-charges
Subtotal
II. Operating & Maintenance Costs
a. Loss of Capability
7
Increased fuel costs
,7
Dollars
3,100,000
8,100,000
1.41
3.67
Mills/
K,;HR
.027
.072
Included in b. above
Included in a. above
b.
c.
Maintenance
Subtotal
III.
Motes
Total Costs (Capital Inv. &
Oper. & Maint.)
Included in a.&b.. above
Included in a.&b. above
Included in a.&b. above
11,200,000 5.08 .099
1,010,000 0.46 .009
Included in b_._ above
1,010,000 0.46 .009
12,210,000 5.54 .108
C.E.Co. Studies
2,6
Dollars
C/KW
Included in d_._ below
18,000,000 8.18
Included in b_._ above
11,700,000 5.32
21,138,000 9.61
12,950,000 5.89
365,000 0.17
34,105,000
11,037,000
464,000
45,606,000
15.50
5.02
0.21
20.73
124,026,000 56.38
Mills/
0.236
0.153
0.277
0.170
0.005
260,000
1,950,000
1,835,000
10,222,000
78,420,000
0.12
0.89
0.88
4.65
35.65
0.003
0.026
0.024
0.134
1.028
1. Based on a 1000 mw nuclear unit - 82;i cap. fact. 33£ eff. (2.2 scale-up) (new
2. Based on 2ion 2200 mw nuclear 72-^ cap. factor 33/» eff. (backfit)
3. Backfitting piping includes such items as modification to exis:tin,: service
water system, changing of existing submerged circulating water intake pipanj,
and new booster punping stations
4. earthwork includes fiuch iteras as overburden removal, dcv/atcring, excavation
for circulating water pipin/; and tower footings, and compacted fill for road-
ways and towers
5. Road <£ trackwork includeo relocation of existing roa.is, protection of circula-
ting water piping at road crossings and railroad spur alterations
6. C.E.Co. stu:,y is based on use of a hybrid roun:! mechanical draft tower with
250' hyperuolic tiifcharne stack for plume dispersal
7. Coeto are listed in equivalent investment dollars.
0.45
0.14
0.01
0.60
1.63
site)
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T G. Lee
2
3
MR. MAYO: Thank you.
5
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25
MR. FELDMAN: The last statement, Mr, Mayo, is
by Dr. G. Fred Lee.
STATEMENT OF DR. G. FRED LEE,
PROFESSOR OF WATER CHEMISTRY,
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN,
MADISON, WISCONSIN
DR. LEE: My name is G. Fred Lee. I am Professor
of Water Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin in
Madison. I am also a consultant to the Commonwealth
Edison Company.
Thus far this afternoon and this evening, we have
heard about the rather minimal effects that the Zion plant
once-through cooling will have on water quality in the
region of Zion.
We have just heard about the cost of backfitting
cooling towers. Now I want to return to the question of
water quality and look specifically at what might be the
effects of cooling tower blowdown on water quality in the
region of Zion.
A. report by the FWQA presented at the workshop
back in 1970 concluded that cooling tower blowdown
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•^ G. Lee
2 from towers located at Zion would not cause water quality
3 problems in Lake Michigan. However, if you examine their
4 report you see that there is real questions to be raised
5 about the basis for their conclusions.
6 First, the FWQA assume that the makeup water at
7 Zion would be equal to the average composition of the water
& in the open lake. Well, it is well known that the water
9 near shore often has much higher concentration of chemicals
10 than the open lake water and, in fact, the composition of the
11 water near shore today in the Zion area exceeds the current
12 Illinois Pollution Control Board standards for some chemi-
13 cals.
14 The FWQA» in their 1970 report, assumed that the
15 criteria to judge adverse effects was the drinking water
16 standards of the U.S. Public Health Service of 1962.
17 Generally, it is well known that the aquatic life
13 standards for fish and aquatic life are much stricter than
19 drinking water standards. In other words, if a fish can
20 swim in it and reproduce in it, generally man can drink it.
21 The FWQA assumed that the only process determining
22 the chemical composition in the blowdown is a fivefold
2^ evaporative concentration of this water,
24- Actually there are a number of other processes
2 ^ that lead to chemicals in cooling tower blowdown, such
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1 G. Lee
2 processes as the addition of chemicals for water condition-
3 ing. Also you have the fact that a cooling tower of the
4 wet evaporative type is a very efficient air scrubbing
5 device, so you will scrub certain chemicals from the atmos-
6 phere.
7 Further you have the leaching of chemicals and the
8 corrosion of the structure itself to consider in any cooling
9 tower situation.
10 Since I feel that the FWQA assumptions are un-
11 realistic with respect to the potential effects of blowdown
12 from a Zion cooling tower system, I have undertaken to
13 prepare a review of the potential effects of this blowdown
14 on the water quality in the region of Zion.
15 This review consists of two parts, both of which
16 have been given to the conferees. One of them is a 50-page
17 literature review, in which I have tried to put together
IS what I have found over the past year, in the area of: What
19 do we know about blowdown from cooling towers?
20 The second is a summary of the specific effects
21 that I predict for the Zion plant should cooling towers be
22 required.
23 Now, I will summarize a summary of the summary
2/f this evening. The other materials, I assume, can be
25 entered into the record without having to read them.
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6
b
9
10
856
G. Lee
2 II Now, the differences between my approach to this
3 situation of blowdown at Zion and the previous approach is
4 ij that I will actually use water quality for the region of
5 I Zion based on the chemical studies of Bio-Test Laboratories,
where a 16-month study has been completed and we do have
data now on the chemical composition of the water in this
region, and this is water that would be the makeup water
for a cooling tower at Zion.
Further, I will judge the significance of chemi-
i,
11 !' cals in the blowdown, based on the State of Illinois Water
12 Quality Standards applicable to that region.
13 Also, I will assume that the cooling towers at
14 i Zion will operate with evaporative concentration factors
f j
15 i of 4.24. This is the design engineers' criteria. And
16 that the only chemicals used for conditioning water at
17 I zion will be sulfuric acid or neutralization of alkalinity
13 j and chlorine as a biocide.
I
19 |j The blowdown from cooling towers at Zion will be
20 ! in the order of 16 c.f.s., which is a pretty fair stream of
21
22 !
23
24
25
water.
Now, let's take a look briefly at the various
chemicals which will be at or near the critical concentra-
tions in the blowdown from Zion.
First, the ammonia content of blowdown from the
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357
-^ G, Lee
2 cooling towers located at Zion would likely exceed the
3 Illinois Pollution Control Board standard for lake water
4 at the point of discharge*
5 Boron. The boron concentration in the blowdown
6 will be about one-half of the Illinois Pollution Control
7 Board for the lake water standards,
g Cadmium, Cadmium in the blowdown will meet the
9 Illinois Pollution Control Board lake water standard but
10 it is expected to be much higher than the cadmium standards
11 that have been recommended for other waters of the Great.
12 Lakes,
13 Chromium, Blowdown will meet the chromium stan-
14 dard at Zion, It should be noted, however, that 'many
15 cooling towers located throughout the State of Illinois
16 will not meet this standard,
17 Chloride, The blowdown will likely exceed the
1# Illinois Pollution Control Board lake water standard at
19 the point of discharge for chloride,
20 ! Copper and Iron. Copper and iron in the blowdown
21 will be approximately equal to the Illinois Pollution Control
22 Board lake water standard,
23 Mercury. The mercury content of lake water from
the Zion area of Lake Michigan is already above the
25 Illinois Pollution Control Board standards. Evaporative
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5
6
7
<5
9
10
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Q* Lee
concentration of that water by 4,24 would cause the mercury
in the blowdown to exceed the Illinois Pollution Control
Board standard by 6 times.
Oil, Oils in the blowdown due to the evaporative
concentration of the makeup water are expected to be about
equal to the Illinois Pollution Control Board standard,
Phjos£horus, Evaporative concentration of the
makeup water by 4,24 results in a phosphorus blowdown of
approximately 20 percent of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board lake standard without any use of phosphorus in the
12 '< cooling tower as a corrosion or scale-controlled chemical.
The blowdown from Zion would stimulate algal growth in the
region of Zion due to the phosphorus present as the result
of simple evaporation of the water,
Sulfate, The sulfate in the makeup water at
Zion, when concentrated by evaporation, will exceed the
Illinos Pollution Control Board standard by 4- to 5-fold.
Furtheri since sulfuric acid will be needed to neutralize
the alkalinity to prevent scale, it is expected that the
blowdown from a cooling tower at Zion would have a
sulfate concentration 7 times the Illinois Pollution
Control Board standard.
o i I
^ ! Suspended Solids, The makeup water at Zion already
25
' exceeds the Illinois Pollution Control Board standard for an
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359
2_ G. Lee
2 effluent discharge to Lake Michigan with respect to suspended
3 solids.
4 Evaporative concentration of cooling water will
5 cause the blowdown to greatly exceed the effluent standard*
6 Zinc* The concentration of zinc in blowdown will
7 be expected to be less than the Illinois Pollution Control
8 Board standard. However, a recent EPA study has shown that
9 zinc in cooling tower blowdown is toxic to aquatic life at
10 levels considerably less than the current Illinois Pollution
11 Control Board standard and the expected concentration of
12 zinc in the blowdown from Zion.
13 Conclusions, The expected composition of blow-
14 down from a cooling tower at Zion, without any direct addi-
15 tion of chemicals for water conditioning will exceed the
16 Illinois Pollution Control Board standard for many chemi-
17 cals,
IB Contrary to the statement made by the FWQA in
19 1970, cooling tower blowdown at Zion will have adverse
20 effect on water quality in the region of Zion.
21 Further, it is reasonable to predict that as a
i
22 result of new water quality criteria that are being de-
veloped today, where we are emphasizing the chronic sub-
lethal effects of chemicals on aquatic organisms, that
the current water quality standards will be even made more
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6
7
H !
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861
G. Lee
2 with discharging large volumes of concentrated chemicals
3 from cooling tower blowdown into the lake.
4 Thank you.
5 MR. MAYO: Thank you, Dr. Lee.
6 (Dr. Lee's presentation follows in its entirety.)
7
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IS
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The University of Wisconsin
WATER CHEMISTRY LABORATORY
MADISON, WISCONSIN 53706
262-2470
AREA CODE 608
September 27, 1972
Francis Mayo
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region V
33 East Congress Parkway
Chicago, Illinois 60605
Dear Mr. Mayo:
On Thursday, September 21, I testified before the Lake
Michigan Enforcement Conference on the effects of cooling
tower blowdown on receiving water quality. Subsequent to this
testimony, I found several minor editorial changes that should
be made in the material incorporated into the record. For
example, when the tables on page 8 were typed, the "less
than" signs were omitted. These corrections, however,
do not change the conclusions in the paper.
I suggest that you incorporate the enclosed copy of the
"Estimated Potential Problems with Cooling Tower Blowdown
at Zion Thermal Electric Generating Station" into the record
rather than the material that I submitted previously.
Sincerely
G. Fred Lee
Professor of Water Chemistry
GFL/lm
Enclosure
-------
Estimated Potential Problems with
Cooling Tower Slowdown at Zion
Thermal Electric Generating Station*
G. Fred Lee1 and Charles Stratton2
Water Chemistry Program
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
A report published by the Federal Water Quality Administration (1970) conclud-
ed that cooling tower blowdown water from a thermoelectric plant such as the Zion
plant of the Commonwealth-Edison Company, located on Lake Michigan, would not cause
water quality problems. However, careful examination of this report raises questions
about the basis for this conclusion. For example, the average composition of south-
ern Lake Michigan offshore water was used as an approximation of the composition of
the makeup water that would be used in a cooling tower at Zion. Commonwealth-Edi-
son's data (Bio-Test Industrial Laboratories, 1971) for nearshore waters off Zion
indicated somewhat different values. The concentrations of certain chemicals in the
makeup waters is close to and occasionally exceeds some of the water quality cri-
teria that have recently been adopted by states bordering on Lake Michigan.
The authors of the FWQA report also assumed that the only process leading to
increased concentrations of chemicals in the blowdown water is a five-fold evapora-
tion concentration. No corrections were attempted for such factors as chemicals
added for water conditioning, chemicals derived from air scrubbing, or chemicals
derived from corrosion or leaching from the structure of the tower.
The most serious objection to the FWQA conclusion is based on the fact that
the authors of this report have assumed that the criteria by which cooling tower
blowdown water could be judged objectionable is the 1962 Drinking Water Standards
of the U.S. Public Health Service. In most cases, water quality criteria for aqua-
1
Professor of Water Chemistry
^Graduate student in Water Chemistry
*Presented in essentially the same form at the Lake Michigan Enforcement Con-
ference, September, 1972.
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tic life are much more stringent than the criteria for drinking water. It is inter-
esting that a federal agency uses aquatic life criteria when it wishes to show that
the current or proposed method of discharge is not acceptable, i.e., once-through
cooling. The same federal agency, however, uses drinking water criteria when they
wish to show that the alternative methods, proposed by the agency, are satisfactory.
This paper presents the expected chemical composition of cooling tower blow-
down water from a thermoelectric plant similar to the proposed Zion installation,
and potential water quality problems that may exist, should cooling towers be re-
quired to meet the thermal effluent standards. Data gathered for Commonwealth-Edi-
son from the waters near Zion will be used as representative of the cooling tower
makeup water. Consideration will also be given to chemicals added for treatment of
the cooling tower water, to corrosion products from the system, to leaching of
chemicals from the structure, and to scrubbing of chemicals from the air passing
through the tower. It will be further assumed that a concentration of the makeup
water constituents by a factor of 4.24 according to the cooling tower design repre-
sents the minimum expected concentration of chemicals in the blowdown water. This
assumption will be somewhat in error as a result of the loss of chemicals by drift
from the tower.
Lee and Stratton (1972) have recently completed a literature review on the
general aspects of the expected effects of cooling tower blowdown water on receiv-
ing water quality. This review should be consulted for further information on this
topic.
Although it is impossible to make a precise estimate of the blowdown water
chemical composition, it should be possible to make a much more reasonable estimate
by the above approach than that taken by the FWQA (1970).
The expected characteristics of the cooling towers that may be installed at
the Zion Station of the Commonwealth Edison Company are listed in Table 1.
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TABLE 1
Characteristics of Cooling Towers at Zion Station
of Commonwealth Edison
Amount
Percent* GPM**
Evaporation 1.9 28,600
Slowdown 0.5 7.400
Drift 0.1 1.470
Makeup 2.5 37,470
*percent of total flow rate
**gallons per minute
(Sargent and Lundy, 1971)
The cooling towers would be operating on a 1,470,000 gpm per unit circulating
water flow rate and a temperature of 24.2°F. for both units at: Zion. An attempt
will be made to maintain 700 mg/1 total dissolved solids in the recirculating water,
which results in a concentration of the makeup water by a factor of 4.24. It is ex-
pected that 1 mg/1 of chlorine for a 30-minute duration three times a day will be
fed to the recirculating water. Further, it is expected that sulfuric acid will be
needed to neutralize 90% of the bicarbonate alkalinity. It is assumed for the pur-
poses of this paper that it will not be necessary to add other chemicals such as
phosphates, zinc, etc. that are normally used in cooling tower water conditioning.
Should any of these chemicals be needed at the Zion plant cooling towers, their
respective concentrations would be increased significantly over those predicted in
this paper.
The volumes presented in Table 1 are based on both nuclear units operating at
Zion. It is estimated that the drift from the Zion cooling towers would be in the
order of 1,470 gpm, which amounts to about 0.1% of the recirculating water flow.
The blowdown will be 7,400 gpm or 16 cfs from the two units.
In order to judge the potential significance of the blowdown water, the esti-
mated concentration of those chemicals that are considered to be potential problems
will be compared to the State of Illinois Water Pollution Regulations, adopted by
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the Illinois Pollution Control Board (1972). These standards are listed in Table
2. Both effluent and lake standards have been established.
Table 3 presents the average and maximum chemical composition of the nearshore
waters in the region of the Zion thermoelectric generating station, based on a 16-
month study conducted by Bio-Test Industrial Laboratories (1971) on behalf of the
Commonwealth-Edison Company. These data are based on studies conducted on the Lake
County water supply intake in the period January, 1970, through April, 1971. During
this period, samples were obtained at approximately bi-weekly intervals.
Ammonia. The Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) has not adopted an ef-
fluent standard for ammonia. However, a lake standard of 0.02 mg/1 as nitrogen has
Deen adopted. The studies by Bio-Test Laboratories (1971) show that the average con-
tent of ammonia in the waters in the region of Zion is 0.04 mg/1 ammonia nitrogen.
An evaporative concentration by a factor of 4.24, as proposed for the Zion plant,
zesults in 0.17 mg/1 ammonia nitrogen. However, studies have shown (Lee and Strat-
ton, 1972) that evaporative type cooling towers tend to promote nitrification reac-
tions in which the ammonia present is converted to nitrate. Further, the chlorina-
tion of the recirculation water will tend to reduce the ammonia content through
oxidation by chlorine. To counter this, precipitation in the liidwest typically con-
tains 0.5-1 mg/1 of ammonia nitrogen. Studies currently being conducted by the au-
thors show that cooling towers tend to scrub ammonia from the atmosphere, showing
a higher concentration in the recirculation water than in the makeup water. There-
fore, even though the exact ammonia content of the blowdown water is impossible to
estimate at this time, it is reasonable to expect that the concentration at the
point of discharge would be in excess of the IPCB lake standard.
Boron. Bio-Test Laboratories (1971) found that the average boron content of
the waters in the region of Zion was 0.10 mg/1. The IPCB established a total boron
lake concentration of 1.0 mg/1. It is evident that the evaporative concentration of
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TABLE 2
Water Quality Standards Applicable to Slowdown Water From
A Cooling Tower at Zion Commonwealth Edison Plant
Parameter Effluent Standard
Ammonia as N
Arsenic (total)
Barium (total)
Boron (total)
Cadmium (total)
Chromium (total hexavalent)
Chormium (total trivalent)
Chloride
Copper (total)
Cyanide (total)
Fluoride
Iron(total)
Iron (dissolved)
Lead (total)
Manganese (total)
Mercury
Nickel
Nitrate plus Nitrite Nitrogen
Oil (hexane soluble)
Oxygen
pH
Phenols
none**
0.25
2.0
none
0.15
0.3
1.0
none
1.0
0.025
2.5
2.0
0.5
0.1
1.0
0.0005
1.0
none
15
none
5 to 10
0.3
Lake Standard*
0.02
0.01
1.0
1.0
0.01
0.05
1.0
12.0
0.02
0.01
1.4
0.3
0.3
0.05
0.05
0.0005
1.0
10.0
0.1
not less than 90%
saturation except
due to natural
causes
7 to 9
0.001
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Parameter Effluent Standard Lake Standard
Phosphorus 1.0 0.007
Selenium (total) 1.0 0.01
Silver (total) 0.1 0.005
Sulfate none 24.0
Suspended Solids (Inorganic) 15 none
Suspended Solids (Organic) 5 none
Total Dissolved Solids 3500 180
Zinc (total) 1.0 1.0
All concentrations expressed in mg/1
*mixing zone permitted, not to exceed area of circle with 600 ft. radius
**No effluent standard established for this parameter
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TABLE 3
Chemical Composition of the Water
Area of Zion Thermoelectric Generating
Commonwealth-Edison Company
Parameter
DO
BOD
COD
TOG
NH3-N
NO--N
NO~-N
2
Turbidity
Total Phosphate as P
Total Dissolved Solids
Total Suspended Solids
Specific Conductance at 25
umhos/cm
Total Hardness as CaCO
Total Alkalinity as CaCO^
Total Coliforms/100 ml
Fecal Coliforms/100 ml
Fecal Streptococci/100 ml
Ca
Mg
Na
K
Cl"
Average*
11.8
2.0
8
9
0.04
0.23
0.007
11
0.038
174
13
°C
282
138
110
74
12
3
36
12
5
1.1
8.7
in the
Station for
Maximum*
8.8 (min.)
4.0
13
24
0.08
0.52
0.02
39
0.068
211
73
321
155
123
267
68
9
39
12.4
7
1.4
11.6
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Parameter
SO"
F~
sioz
pH
Total organic Carbon
Oil (hexane soluble)
Color (true)
MBAS
Phenols
Cyanide
Hg
As
Cd
B
Fe
Cu
Cr
Zn
Ni
Pb
Mn
*all concentrations in mg/1
After Bio-Test Industrial Laboratories (1971)
-8-
Average*
20.7
0.15
1.1
8.1
10
2.3
3
<0.025
<0.001
< 0.005
0.00075
0.0014
^0.001
0.10
0.24
0.003
0.002
0.04
0.002
0.003
0.0062
Maximum*
24.7
0.29
2.2
8.2
20
5.3
6
-10.025
^0,001
^0.005
0.0026
0.0031
<0.001
0.16
0.45
0.007
0.009
0.1
0.004
0.006
0.024
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Lake Michigan water in the region of Zion would cause the boron content of the ef-
fluent blowdown to be approximately half of the lake water standard.
Cadmium. The IPCB has established a total effluent cadmium concentration of
0.15 mg/1 and a lake cadmium limit of 0.01 mg/1. These limits are considerably
higher than the limits which have been proposed by the FWQA (1969) for Lake Super-
ior, where it has been found that cadmium levels in excess of 0.0005 mg/1 have an
adverse effect on some aquatic organism reproduction. The Bio-Test studies have
shown that the cadmium content of the waters in the region of Zion is less than
0.001 mg/1. If it is assumed that the concentrations of cadmium in Lake Michigan
are similar to those of Lake Superior, that is 0.0002 to 0.0004 mg/1, then the ex-
pected evaporative concentration of this water could lead to the cadmium content
in the blowdown being in excess of the recommended limit for Lake Superior. However,
it would meet the IPCB criteria for Lake Michigan.
Chromium. Bio-Test Leboratories reported the average total chromium content
of the waters near Zion to be 0.002 mg/1. The IPCB established a total hexavalent
chromium standard for effluent of 0.3 mg/1 and a total trivalent chromium standard
for the effluent of 1.0 mg/1. If the IPCB standards are compared to the data from
various Illinois state institutional cooling tower effluents (Illinois State Water
Survey, 1971, see Lee and Stratton, 1972), it is seen that the chromium content of
these blowdown waters is often 12 to 60 mg/1. Of course, all of these plants are
using a chromate treatment for corrosion control. While it is doubtful that any
chromium would be used in the treatment of an evaporative type cooling tower at
the Zion plant, such use would necessitate the installation of facilities to re-
move chromium from the blowdown water.
Chloride. The IPCB established a 12 mg/1 chloride limit for lake water,, The
average content of chloride in the region of Zion is 8.7 mg/1, with a maximum value
of 11.6 mg/1. Evaporative concentration of this water by a factor of 4.24 would
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cause the chloride content of the blowdown to exceed the established lake criteria
and would necessitate rapid dilution of this water in order to meet these criteria.
The chlorine used as a biocide in the cooling tower recirculating water would
tend to increase the chloride content of the blowdown water to a small but measure-
able degree; however, it could also cause other detrimental effects in the blow-
down water. Recent studies by the EPA Duluth laboratory have shown that chloramines
which would be formed upon the reaction of chlorine and ammonia are toxic to
aquatic organisms at concentrations of a few ug/1. While a large part of the
added chlorine would be consumed as chlorine demand, it is possible that some
of the chloramines would be present in the blowdown water.
Copper. The survey by Bio-Test Laboratories indicates the average copper
content of the water near Zion is in the order of 0.003 mg/1. The IPCB has
established a total copper limit in the effluent of 1.0 rag/1 and a lake limit of
0.02 mg/1. A concentration of the makeup water by a factor of 4.24 would result
in the copper content in the blowdown approaching that of the lake water limit.
Many of the cooling towers examined by the Illinois State Water Survey (1971) show
copper concentrations on the order of 0.01 mg/1 or greater. Since most makeup
waters generally contain copper in amounts considerably less than this value, there
is an indication that copper is accumulated within the recirculating system,
possibly derived either from corrosion of the system or from scrubbing of copper
from the atmosphere. Available data show that copper exists at levels of 27 ug/1
in precipitation across Canada (Thompson, 1971). This indicates that scrubbing
of copper from the air may be a significant factor in cooling towers.
Iron. The IPCB established a total iron standard in the effluent of 2.0 mg/1.
Bio-Test Laboratories has found that the average total iron in this region is
0.24 mg/1. This is very near the IPCB lake standard of 0.3 mg/1. Examination of
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the data obtained from Betz Laboratories (1971; See Lee and Stratton, 1972) shows
that some of the cooling towers examined had iron concentrations in excess of
the IPCB standard. It is, therefore, possible that the iron content of the blow-
down water from a cooling tower located at Zion would approach the IPCB standard
for this element and might on occasion exceed this standard. Studies currently
in progress by the authors indicate total iron levels well in excess of 2 mg/1
from the cooling towers under study.
Mercury. An effluent and a lake standard of 0.0005 mg/1 total mercury have
been set. Lake water in the Zion region is reported to contain 0.00075 mg/1
mercury and is therefore currently in excess of both the effluent and lake standards.
The blowdown would be concentrated to a level of about 0.003 mg/1 mercury.
Nitrate. The lake standard for nitrate plus nitrite nitrogen is 10.0 mg N/l.
Nitrites and nitrate compounds are occasionally used as corrosion inhibitors in
cooling towers. When these compounds are used, the blowdown nitrate concentration
can be quite high (62 mg/1 for one tower studied by Fisher and Jeter as reported
by Savinelli and Beecher, 1966), hence it must be assumed that the permitted
mixing zone is sufficient to accomodate the necessary dilution of the blowdown
effluent.
Oil, hexane soluble. A limit of 15 mg/1 in the effluent and 0.1 mg/1 in the
lake has been set for hexane soluble oils. The hexane soluble material in the
region of the Zion intake has been found by Bio-Test Laboratories to be in the
order of 2 mg/1, with some values as high as 5 mg/1. Therefore, it is possible
that at times the amount of hexane soluble material in the blowdown from a cooling
tower would approach the IPCB effluent standard, based on an evaporative concen-
tration of 4.24 times the intake waters of Lake Michigan. It should be further
noted that the increasing tendency to substitute organic chemicals for potentially
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toxic inorganic chemicals such as zinc and chromium in cooling towers for corrosion
control may significantly increase the amount of hexane soluble material present
in blowdown.
Phenols. The IPCB has established an effluent standard of 0.3 mg/1 for
phenols and a lake water standard of 0.001 mg/1. Existing phenol levels in the
region of Zion are less than 0.001 mg/1. However, chlorophenols are used in many
cooling towers as biocides. Such practice leads to the presence of these compounds
in the blowdown water. Chlorophenols at ug/1 concentrations are known to cause
taste and odors in drinking water and the tainting of fish flesh.
Phosphorus. A maximum phosphate concentration of effluent waters of 1.0 mg/1
and a lake concentration of 0.007 mg/1 as phosphorus has been established. Bio-
Test Laboratories found that the total phosphate in the region of Zion intake is
approximately 0.04 rag P/l. An evaporative concentration by a factor of 4.24
would result in the phosphate concentration in the blowdown being approximately
20 percent of IPCB effluent standard. Available evidence indicates that the
algae growth in the region of the Zion plant is most likely limited by the phos-
phorus content of the water. Therefore, the discharge of large volumes of blow-
down water which contained phosphate in order of a few tenths of a mg/1 would
tend to stimulate algal growth in the region of the discharge. Phosphates are
used in many cooling towers for control of corrosion and scale. For example,
several of the cooling towers analyzed by the Illinois State Water Survey (1971)
have a phosphate content in the blowdown water of 3-8 mg P/l. Many of the cooling
tower blowdown waters shown in data compiled by Betz Laboratories have phosphate
concentrations of 0.2-2.0 mg/1. These levels are such that the blowdown from
cooling towers of such a size as those required for the Zion plant would likely
stimulate algal growth in the region of the discharge if any form of phosphate,
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including polyphosphate, phosphonates or polyol-esters, are used in the treatment
program, even if this discharge met the IPCB limit of 1.0 mg P/l.
Sulfate. A maximum sulfate content in the receiving lake water of 24 mg/1
has been established by the IPCB. Bio-Test Laboratories found an average sulfate
concentration of 21 mg/1 with a maximum of 25 mg/1 in the lake water near Zion.
An evaporative concentration of the makeup water by a factor of 4.24 would cause
the blowdown water to exceed the lake water standard by approximately four to
fivefold. Further, it is expected that sulfuric acid would be added to the recir-
culation water to neutralize about 90 percent of the bicarbonate alkalinity. This
would result in a 75 to 100 mg/1 increase in the sulfate content of the makeup
water. There can, therefore, be little doubt that the waters in the region of the
discharge of blowdown would greatly exceed the IPCB standard for Lake Michigan
water and would have to be diluted by diffusion or treated. As I will show later,
neither technique will work here.
Suspended Solids. Bio-Test Laboratories found that the water in the region
of Zion has an average suspended solids concentration of 18 mg/1. IPCB allows an
effluent suspended solids concentration of 15 mg/1 for inorganic solids. This
means that the makeup water does not presently meet the IPCB effluent standards.
An evaporative concentration coupled with atmospheric scrubbing and possible pre-
cipitation within the system will certainly cause the blowdown water to exceed
the IPCB standards for inorganic suspended solids. Treatment of the blowdown to
remove suspended solids will, therefore, be required.
Zinc. The IPCB limit for total zinc is 1.0 mg/1 in the effluent. The zinc
concentration in the region of Zion averages 0.04 mg/1 which would still be con-
siderably less than the 1.0 mg/1 after evaporative concentration. Many cooling
towers, however, discharge zinc at concentrations considerably in excess of the
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-14-
IPCB standard because it is added for corrosion inhibition. Further, there may
be a significant uptake of zinc from the atmosphere. Relatively large concentrations
are present in precipitation. Also, it should be mentioned that the IPCB standard
of 1.0 mg/1 is considerably in excess of the standard which has been proposed by
the FWQA (1969) for Lake Superior. A study recently conducted at the Corvallis
EPA Laboratory concerning biological effects of cooling tower blowdown indicates
that zinc may be toxic to young trout at 0.09 mg/1 (Carton, 1972). The zinc content
of influent water and its effect on the amount of zinc present in Lake Michigan
waters is currently under study by the senior author.
CONCLUSION AND OVERALL APPRAISAL
In this paper, the nature of chemicals that may be present in cooling tower
"•lowdown water and the possible effect of these chemicals on the quality of the
receiving water have been briefly discussed. The Zion nuclear power plant has
been used as a discussion model. This evaluation has been prompted by the fact
that the use of cooling towers may be greatly increased in the near future in order
to meet proposed thermal discharge criteria.
This investigation has been conducted in light of the fact that the concepts
of the critical concentrations of chemicals in natural waters have changed signif-
icantly during the past few years. In the past, the primary focus of water quality
standards has been on the concentrations of chemicals in natural waters which would
have a deleterious effect on aquatic life, as measured by the acute toxicity of
the chemical to a particular organism.
Recently adopted IPCB standards which are used for evaluation of the Zion
plant reflect, to some extent, the much stricter water quality standards necessary
for protection of aquatic life against sub-lethal effects. It is likely that
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- 15 -
within a few years the critical levels of chemicals which have been established to-
day will have to be revised downward even more in order to protect aquatic life as
more information on chronic toxicity becomes available. Such revisions will result
in the necessity of large expenditures by users of cooling towers to meet the new
criteria.
It is clear that many of the chemicals, present in the blowdown which would have
expected concentrations slightly less than the IPCB effluent standards would not
meet IPCB or other water quality criteria for the lake. Therefore, there will be a
region in the vicinity of the discharge of the blowdown where excessive concentra-
tions of these chemicals will occur. The FWQA (1970) proposes an approach that it
is proper to dilute toxic chemicals in order to meet a standard, but it is not proper
to dilute heat on a similar basis. This appears to be a somewhat contradictory ap-
proach in that the deleterious effects of heat are short-lived, reversible, and on-
ly affect the water in the immediate region of discharge. On the other hand, chem-
icals can have effects that extend over considerable distances. This is especially
true today when the concepts of the critical concentrations of chemicals are being
revised drastically downward as additional information becomes available.
It should be obvious from the above review that the conclusion drawn by the
FWQA (1970) that blowdown from an evaporative type cooling tower at Zion would not
cause any water quality problems is in error. It could be argued that such problems
can be readily corrected by treatment of the blowdown water. While treatment is
technically possible, some of the materials of concern, such as sulfate, are not
being removed from waste waters at any location in the U.S. today. The only feasi-
ble methods for removal of such species are the very expensive techniques associat-
ed with saline water conversion (viz. ion exchange, reverse osmosis, evaporation).
The relatively large volume of blowdown at Zion of 16 cfs would entail enormous
cost to treat this blowdown so it would meet IPCB standards and not cause any ad-
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-16-
verse effects on water quality in the region of the discharge or in the lake itself.
Certainly, the cost of this treatment must be included in any appraisal of the po-
tential economic aspects of using cooling towers versus once-through cooling at
large electric generating stations located on the shores of Lake Michigan.
In situations such as the Commonwealth-Edison Zion plant where the design of
the discharge works effects very rapid cooling of the water within a minimum area
and has a minimal effect on the ecology of the region, it is somewhat diffucult to
understand why anyone would propose to trade a problem of a heated discharge which
is rapidly cooled for one involving the discharge of a large volume of chemicals
which are known to have adverse effects. Cooling towers must be used in many in-
stallations where large amounts of heat are to be dissipated to relatively small
bodies of water. In the case of Lake Michigan, however, it appears to be in the
best interest of the public and a sound ecological practice to utilize the heat
assimilative capacity of Lake Michigan by allowing a limited number of thermal
electric generating stations to use this lake for once-through cooling purposes
rather than accept damage by discharging large volumes of chemicals.
Acknowledgemen t
This paper was supported by the Commonwealth-Edison Company of Chicago,
Illinois, the Environmental Protection Agency Training Grant No. 5T2-WP-184-04,
and the University of Wisconsin Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
We also wish to acknowledge the assistance of Betz Laboratories, Illinois
State Water Survey, and M. Thompson of the Canada Centre for Inland Waters.
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-17-
References
Betz Laboratories, Personal communication (1971).
Bio-Test Industrial Laboratories, Report to Commonwealth-Edison Company on Deter-
mination of Thermal Effects on Southwest Lake Michigan, Project II, IBT No.
W8955 - Inshore Water Quality Evaluation (January, 1970fApril, 1971).
Federal Water Quality Administration, Lake Superior Enforcement Conference (1969).
Federal Water Quality Administration, Feasibility of Alternative Means of Cooling
for Thermal Power Plants near Lake Michigan, pp. VI-l-VI-41 (1970).
Carton, E.E., Biological Effects of Cooling Tower Slowdown, Presented at American
Institute of Chemical Engineers Meeting, (February, 1972).
Illinois Pollution Control Board, Water Pollution Regulations of Illinois,
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (March 7, 1972).
Illinois State Water Survey, Personal Communication (1971).
Lee, G.F. and Stratton, C.L. Effect of Cooling Tower Slowdown Water on Receiving
Water Quality - A Literature Review. Presented at the Lake Michigan Enforcement
Conference Sept. 1972. University of Wisconsin Water Chemistry Program
(1972).
Sargent and Lundy Company, Inter-office memorandum (August 27,1971).
Savinelli, E.A. and Beecher, J.S. "Laboratory and Field Evaluation of Corrosion
Inhibitors for Open Circulation Water Systems" Selected Papers on Cooling
Tower Water Treatment. Illinois State Water Survey Circular No. 91, Urbana,
Illinois 5-23 (1969).
Thompson, M.E., Personal Communication, Canadian Centre For Inland Waters (1971).
-------
EFFECT OF COOLING TOWER SLOWDOWN WATER
ON RECEIVING WATER QUALITY - A LITERATURE REVIEW*
G. Fred Lee and Charles L. Stratton
Water Chemistry Program
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin 53706
INTRODUCTION
In the past few years, federal and state regulatory
agencies have been adopting thermal discharge standards which
prohibit direct discharge of large volumes of cooling water
to natural waters. These regulations will force the installation
of a large number of the evaporative type cooling towers in
order to dissipate the heat directly to the atmosphere. The
nature of the evaporative type cooling tower is such that
approximately one percent evaporation is necessary to achieve
a 10°F temperature reduction. This evaporation results in
the build-up of large concentrations of salts and other
chemicals in the recirculation water.
The cooling tower heat exchange system has five basic
problems associated with the recirculation water. These are:
(1) scaling of heat transfer surfaces and recirculation piping,
which decreases system efficiency; (2) corrosion, which results
in shortening the useful life of the materials of construction;
(3) general fouling of the system and components by precipitation
and sedimentation from the water- (4) biological fouling,
which results in accelerated corrosion and interference with
heat transfer and flow; and (5) deterioration of wood structure
by chemical and biological attack. In order to attempt to
*Presented before the Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference,
Chicago, Illinois, September, 1972.
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-2-
minimize these problems, the amount of evaporative concentration
that normally takes place in a cooling tower is held to a
minimum. In addition, various chemicals are added to the
recirculation water in order to reduce the magnitude of these
problems. Eventually, however, evaporative type cooling towers
must discharge a substantial volume of the recirculation
water to the environment if they are to continue to operate
effectively. This discharged water is called blowdown. This
paper considers the potential detrimental effects of cooling
tower blowdown water on the receiving waters.
The volume of blowdown is highly variable and depends
on many things including: makeup water quality, design and
construction material, location and size of the tower and heat
exchangers. The volume can be very large. For example, the
installation of evaporative type cooling towers at the
Commonwealth Edison Zion 2200 MW nuclear electric generating
plant would result in a blowdown water volume of approximately
16 cfs. It is possible that under certain conditions, the
chemicals present in cooling tower blowdown water could have a
much more significant deleterious effect on water quality in
a receiving water than the use of the water for direct once-
thorugh cooling without chemical addition.
The chemical composition of cooling tower blowdown water
is also highly variable depending on the chemical characteristics
of the makeup water, the degree of evaporative concentration,
the amount of drift (atmospheric loss of salts), the amount
of corrosion of the cooling system, types and amounts of chemicals
added to minimize water quality problems within the recir-
culating water system, amounts of materials scrubbed from the
air passing through the tower, and biological activity within
the tower and recirculation system.
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— 3 —
Even if good data is available on the chemical composition
of the makeup water and the amounts and types of chemicals
added to the tower, it is still very difficult to predict the
concentrations of many potentially significant chemicals in
the blowdown water due to the inability to estimate the con-
tributions from corrosion'-products, chemical and bio-chemical
reactions that occur within the heat exchange system, fractional
loss of chemicals in drift, air scrubbing, and leaching from
construction materials. A review of the cooling tower lit-
erature will show that very little information is available
on the chemical composition of cooling tower blowdown water.
Generally, where data is available it is restricted to those
chemicals such as calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, bicar-
bonate, etc. which have, in general, very little effect on
water quality except at very high concentrations. Little, if
any data is available on the concentrations of some of the
more significant chemicals which are known to have adverse
effects on water quality at levels near a ug/1.
A few years ago, generally the only water quality problem
that was thought to exist with cooling tower blowdown water was
the toxicity of excessive amounts of chromate present in the
blowdown which had been added to the tower for corrosion
control purposes. In the past five to ten 'years, it has become
generally recognized that other corrosion inhibitors must be
used or the blowdown water must be treated for chromium
removal prior to discharge to the environment. Today, however,
coincident with the increased use of cooling towers, especially
the anticipated use at large electric generating stations, it
has become realized that many of the chemicals which were
once thought to be safe at mg/1 levels are actually toxic
to aquatic organisms at ug/1 levels. Serious questions are
therefore raised about the advisability of switching from
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-4-
once-through cooling operations in those instances where
little or no harm is anticipated to the environment by the
discharge of heated natural water to evaporative type cooling
towers where large volumes of blowdown water would be dis-
charged to the environment.
A review of the cooling tower literature shows that,
in general, zinc salts have been added to supplement or replace
chromates as corrosion inhibitors in many cooling towers. The
justification for this is generally that zinc at several
mg/1 is safe to discharge to the environment. However, this
"safe concentration" is based on a short-term acute toxicity
of zinc to fish. It is now realized that zinc at a few ug/1
may have a sublethal chronic effect on fish which prevents
them from reproducing. The fish or other aquatic organisms
are not killed from the zinc. They simply do not reproduce,
or reproduce as well, and therefore, in the end, it has the
same detrimental effect as the higher levels of zinc. Today,
a complete reappraisal is being made of the significant con-
centrations of many chemicals in waste waters. Generally,
it is being found that the chronic sublethal effects of many
chemicals occur at concentrations ten to a thousand times less
than the acute lethal effects for fish and fish food organisms.
Before discussing this point in further detail, it is appropriate
to review the factors influencing the composition of blowdown
water and the expected composition of that water.
FACTORS INFLUENCING CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF BLOWDOWN WATER
Drift (Aerial Blowdown)
Another problem of the evaporative type cooling tower
that can result in environmental degradation is drift. Drift
is the formation of small droplets of the recirculating water
that are carried from the tower and spread on the nearby
landscape. Drift represents a form of aerial blowdown. Under
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™" O —
severe condition? ,these droplets or the evaporated salts
that are formed in the atmosphere can lead to serious corrosion
of metal, especially aluminum such as that used in house
trailers, aluminum siding, etc. Depending on the types of
salts present and the amounts, there can be a severe problem
with respect to effects on terrestrial plants.
The potf. tial significance of the drift problem is dem-
onstrated by several comments in the cooling tower literature.
Dalton (1962) states that the chromates in drift tend to
discolor the landscape. Waselkow (1969) relates the experience
of one electric utility company that relocated their entire
main transmission line due to problems with flashover resulting
from drift. This company then established a rule that
transmission lines would no longer be located nearer than
500 ft. to a cooling tower. Thornley (1968) comments on the
drift problem by stating, "Don't place tower near a parking
lot where drift may spot paint on automobiles or adjacent to
a taller building where drift may stain the building." Ford
(1969) indicates concern for the total solids discharged
to the air by drift. Crutchfield (1970) has mentioned that
the Southern California Edison electric generating station
is being placed on the Colorado River. Cooling towers for
this station are designed for maximum aerial blowdown since,
"by agreement with the Department of the Interior, no
blowdown water can be returned to the Colorado River. The
remainder of the blowdown water must go into evaporating
basins," according to Crutchfield. In order to achieve a no
blowdown condition at this plant, extensive makeup water pre-
treatment is necessary. Christiansen and Colman (1970) discuss
how this is achieved by cold lime-soda ash softening pre-
treatment of the makeup water. They further discuss the
reduction in water consumption effected by makeup pretreatment
and consequent increased concentration ratios in the cooling tower.
-------
The Atomic hnevgy Coramo-isaor-, ir 'die.!': evaluation of
potential effects of eooT.ing lowers at the Palisades Plant of
Consumers Power Company lAiX, i9V2), noted xhal there ara
several sand dunes in the" "proposed area of cooling towers
which are over 100 feet h -s'fi •> w;i.f.j.e The cooing -t-cv^rs
which are propccod foi1 this plant will be only 50 feet high.
Further many ol the trees on the site reach 50-80 fe«t. Much
of the time the plume from the cooling towers will impinge and
spread over the nearby sand dunes. This could have a signifi-
cant effect on the terrestrial vegetation near the plant.
It is expo-:ted that the types of vegetation in the ^rca of
impingement of xhe cooling tcw^? plurre with the sand dunes
would revert to shrubs ind grv.jses and n^y oven result in
the complete Icsr c. c.li" "' .^station dao to b^.o^'Out areas.
Another potently ^^-cl'i^^ vi th thv. cooling tower0 cited by
the AEG (1972) is the presence of lin ; uud other toxic
elements .in the drift which would tani.; to accuir.ulate on the
ground and :'.n vegexation. The AEG feels that the concentrations
sn.I total losses of cert?.i.n chemical j suc.h as sulfd'i'-. a\?d zinc
could have a sev_',:e impact or plant c.nd .-inirual communities in
the areas surrovuiJi.-g The ccolir;: towers.
The F^d^ral water Quality Adnini^ trntion (FWC-A, .1870)
stated that d^ift ib a normal problejii tliat can be solved by
the purchase of additional land to provide a greater degree
of separation of the coolirg tower and other activities of
man. '.'."nile these statements are correct with respect
to suggesting a method to eliminate The problems of drift,
namely, purchase additional land, cle-i^iy such land purchases
must be considered part of the initial capital and operating
cost cf evaporative 'type cooling towers due to the. loss of
revenue fc more productive land use.
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Fr-oxi «. wate^ chemistm poire of view, it wculc' be expected
that the ar.ount of drif- would be highly dependent on the
design of The coding tower1. The c/iernic-v.?. composition of
drift should relfect to some degree the Chemical composition
of the, recircuj.ating water. However,, it has beer. ?hown that
the chemical composition of ocean sprey arising iTrom wind
ovsr the open ocean results in a fraetionation of the dissolved
salts present in the spray which form air-borne, salt crystals
that have a different composition than the sea water from
which bhey were derived. To some ex-cent} a similar pre-
ferential fractional""on should oc :ur in the, formation of
drif'T in en eetT<*atTrcnt , lic'w:-vs.i-, '< r .c>:'t : ^stcillr.tacn'?, pretreatment
is practiced. '.'':a.y pr><-, Lrc•"!::.•.:.:/.t ^enfira 11\ oons.iv4-? of
softer-ing tc remove hardness, Ccccx^iorcij ly, SiaTements will
be made -criat water- quality ir. 3 iio^."1.: .IP, COKT/J' c not a critical
factor, citing as p.vicle ice fo" xho.a; tre f^cc "'.hat F--«awe
effluent hr-.s been used in so^c- cooling lowers ror the- re-
circulairir.g waters. However., a ca/'eful review of the liteiature
xjill show that the use of domestic raste water effluents in
cooling toT'.°rt3 is not v/ithout significant problems.
CU'wir^s (TS6U) cliscuss^o *his aituatior ^7ith respect
to the use vc tli^. mu;iicjpal sewage eftluenr in -oollng towers
in several inftallaticns in JJex^r. He ncrcs th-.t extensive
pretraa-'-merxt of c'io ^ater is n«.ooosar/ in ord^r to remove
phosphates, hardness and other ^ate^oYils which cause scale,
corrosion ^nd biological fouling. Furthermore, continuous side
stream filtration 7.3 itec^.ssary ir the ooo?.i;T.rr tovcr1 recircalating
system xo :uinimize the build-up of excessi";e amounts of
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-8-
precipitates. He notes that prior1 to the time of the conversion
from the slowly degradable detergents to the readily bio-
degradable detergents that took place in the mid-1960's,
the cooling towers using sewage effluent had severe foaming
problems.
Terry (1966) reports on his experiences in the use of
sewage plant effluent as makeup water for cooling towers. He
also cites other instances where domestic waste water effluents
have been used for this purpose. It was found that in order
to avoid excessive scale problems due to phosphates and silica,
a cold lime treatment of waste water was necessary. Also, it
was necessary to add sulfuric ^cid to prevent calcium car-
bonate precipitation in the cooling tower system. He noted
that relatively large concentrations of chlorine must be
added to the systtm at various times in order to control
excessive accumulation of slime forming organisms in the
system. The organisms would tend to accelerate the rate of
corrosion of metals in the cooling tower system. Smith
(1964) discusses case histories of towers using municipal
and industrial wastes, and mentions the pretreatment
necessary for this type of makeup water. The Mohave Generating
Station located on the Colorado River was mentioned earlier
to have a> cooling tower system designed for no blowdown.
As discussed above this is achieved by extensive pretreatment
of the makeup water.
It should be noted, however, that at most installations
the makeup water is used without any pretreatment and that
most of the water conditioning is accomplished by the addition
of chemicals directly to the recirculating water. It is likely
that side stream filtration will be used with increasing
frequency on cooling towers where there is a tendency to
build up excessive amounts of precipitates and particles
-------
scrubbed from the axrospLere T.A the rF.circu'Ldtin,? water, Side
stream f il tr.-tf.on DnvOJ.:/vr '"•.king a .small L;art of the re--
circulating water c.r-'l passing it through s^ud or diatomaceous
earth filters designed to remove small particles from the water
and returning this filtered water to the recirculating system,
Chemical Add it Jar's
The primary method of water treatment for coo]ing tower
recirculal ing water is by the addition of chemicals to min-
imize scale, fouling, corrosion, biological growths, and
wood deterioration. Generally, th^se waters ar.i treated by
the e.duition of cu'fvric acid and chlorine as the minimum
treatment. Other treatment'-; <-vt~:nI +0 mixtures of highly
toxic metallic salt", ^Cjaulex p>.os7xhaxe'i, and biocidep. Table 1
lists u^.nv of ^h'o Idvsu rifled compounds which are used. There
arc few general ., ••>„' c£ UP th° typcr, ^nd ".^^unts of ctiemicals
used in cooling 'jovier recircvL'.r.loa wa^er treaxir-^nt. A large
number of proprietary ccnpounds are i/. co7i.r:"xi use. The e;:act
composition of th^-.ie compounds ic> ^ot >i'i.o'.>,.! cu respect >"Lo the ioiig-term,
subletbal, chronio toxicity or. fish aac1 o'iher aquatic
organibns o Cooling tower re^irculation we.i-er treatment is
usually Described by professional c^r-or^iec that specialize
in iniustri">1 water- conditioning, r^ny of whirii have rheir
own proprietary compounds x^hich are U3ed :n their treatment
specif icaf'ons. While it is not poc-s-Iblp er this time to
discuss in detail the many chemicals that ere added to cooling
tower recirculation water, it is possible to discuss the
general nature of these compounds. The various types of
chemicals o.sed ir> cooling tower r^circulation waters are
briefly discussed below. It should oe emphasised, however,
thaT this is a highly charging field today, in which r«=w
chemicals are being introduced for tris purpose by firms that
specialize in coolimi tower water treatment,
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-10-
TABLE 1
Various Identified Chemical Compounds Used
in the Treatment of Cooling Tower Water
Scale and/or Corrosion Control
Sulfuric acid
Chromate salts
Bichromate salts
Zinc salts
Polyphosphate
Hexametaphosphate
Pyrophosphate
Polyol-esters
Phosphonates
Silicates
Polymeric silicates
Nitrites
Amines
Amides
Pyridines
Sulfamic Acid
Polyelectrolytes
General Fouling Control
Lignins
Tannins
Lignosulfonates
Starch
Sodium silicofluoride
Biocides
Chlorine
Hypochlorite
Chlorocyanurate
Polychlorophenols
Dichloro-naphthoquinone
Mercury compounds
Acrolein
Copper sulfate
Arsenic acid
Tri-butyltin oxide
Organic esters
Carboxylic acids
Molybdate
Fluoride
Ferrocyanide
Copper
Mercaptobenzothiazole
Palyacrylamide
Carboxy methyl cellulose
Aminomethylene phosphonic acid
Borax
Potassium hydroxide
Sodium Hydroxide
Manganese
Nickel
Trivalent chromium
Benzotriazole
Aromatic nitrogen compounds
EDTA
Citric acid
Gluconic acid
Polyacrylate
Polyethyleneimine
Thiocyanates
Bromides
Creosote
Cupric chromate
Zinc chromate
Bolinden
Erdalith
Quaternary ammonium sompounds
Chloromethylsulfones
Tertiary butyl hydrogen peroxide
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-11-
Sulfuric acid. Generally, the conditioning of cooling tower
makeup water for large industrial cooling towers involves the
adjustment of the alkalinity (carbonate content) of the water
with sulfuric acid in order to achieve a certain degree of
calcium carbonate solubility in the recirculating water.
Normally, the degree of calcium carbonate solubility or
saturation is determined based on the calcium content that
builds up in the recirculation water due to evaporative con-
centration and that added ih the makeup water; the pH of the
recirculating water; and the carbonate concentration, which
is determined by the alkalinity and pH. This adjustment
is generally made to some value on either the Langelier or
Ryznar index. Normally, an attempt is made to achieve an
index value which is near the point where the ion activity
product of calcium and carbonate are just about equal to the
solubility-product of these species. The theory behind
this approach is one of maintaining a thin film of calcium
carbonate in order to reduce corrosion, yet at the same time,
adjust the composition of the water such that large amounts
of calcium carbonate scale do not form. While this is the
generally accepted approach for cooling towers, there are
questions about the validity of this approach for some waters
since a number of investigators have shown that the corrosion
tendency of a water may be independent of the stability index
of the water with respect to calcium carbonate solubility.
The operator of a cooling tower should conduct in situ tests
on the corrosiveness of the recirculation water to try to
condition this water in such a way as to minimize scale form-
ation and corrosion based on empirical testing rather than
on the somewhat arbitrary saturation indices that are frequently
used. The addition of sulfuric acid is usually made in
sufficient amounts to achieve a recirculation water pH near
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-12-
neutrs.1^ This addition converts eartcnabt* vad bicarbonate
to C02 which is scrubbed from the tower by air. Therefore,
carbonate salts are replaced by sul.fn.te salts. Sulfates
may have an adverse effect on water quality as discussed
later. Furthermore, the operator of the cooling tower must
operate it in such a manner as to avoid sulfate scale problems
that might arise from the use of HjSO^ in the tower.
Chlorine. The second most commonly used chemical in con-
ditioning of the cooling tower recirculatior water is chlorine.
It is widely used as a biocide. Motley and Hoppe (1970) mention
that chlcrina is an effective biocide for the control of algae
and bacterial slimes at 1.5 ng/'l frtc available chlorine
on a once or twice riaily shock application. They point out
that concentrations higher xhan this level t x-e likely to
cause deterioration of tower .Ivmh^r-. Generally, continuous
addition of chlorine is not needed, anc\ t'r><-~. period of treatment
is generally for the time it takes for o/j.e complete recycle
of the water through the tower and heat exchange system.
In these cooling towers where large amounts ol; hydrocarbons
or other organic constituents are presenc, the application of
chlorine irr-»y have to be increased considerably in order to
satisfy the chlorine deirand. It is likely ~chat because of the
concentrations of ammonia typically preacnt in cooling tower
recirculating water, chloramines would be formed with the
addition of chlorin^. Some of the free chlorine as well as
the chToramines may be present in the cocli.ig tower blowdown
water thereby creating potential water quality problems in the
receiving water.
The environmental impact statement prepared by the AEC
(AEC, 1972) for the Palisades Plant of Consumers Power Company
states that cooling towers at this plant would utilise
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chlorine which would result in a blowdown discharge of chlorine
of about 1 mg/1 for one hour per day. The residual chlorine
discharged to the lake would be 0.022 mg/1 after dilution of
blowdown water by 60,000 gpm and the area affected by the
chlorine will be less than that for once-through cooling.
However, they note that the period of chlorine discharge will
be thirty times longer than for once-through cooling.
Phosphates. Various types of phosphate compounds are widely
used in cooling tower recirculation water. These compounds
act to reduce corrosion and to prevent scale and sludge formation.
Polymeric phosphates act as nucleation inhibitors and thereby
minimize the deposition of various types of precipitates on
the heat exchanger, as well as other surfaces in the cooling
tower heat exchanger recirculation system. Frequently, the
polyphosphates are used at the 1-10 mg/1 phosphorus level.
Recently, some relatively new organic phosphates, the polyol-
esters and the phosphonates, have been introduced for use in
cooling towers. These compounds are claimed to be highly
effective for scale inhibition. The manufacturers report
that these compounds, which are P-O-C bonded compounds, do not
revert to orthophosphate in natural waters. However, examination
of the information available on the testing that has been
done on this lack of reversion shows that additional stydy
is necessary to be certain that reversion does not in fact take
place in natural waters at a relatively slow rate due to enzymatic
processes. The situation with respect to the polyol-esters
and phosphonates may be somewhat similar to that to NTA
(nitrilotriacetic acid) where an acclimatized group of micro-
organisms was shown to be able to readily degrade NTA; however,
non-acclimatized organisms could not bring about this
reaction. These polyol-esters of phosphate and the phosphonates
are recommended for use in the 2-100 mg/1 range in the re-
-------
-14-
circulation water of a cooling tower. Since there is a
possibility of their reversion to orthophosphate, their use
in cooling towers on a large scale basis should be preceeded
by careful studies on this reversion process. These potential
problems have not been investigated by the manufacturers
(Zecher, 1970a).
According to Motley and Hoppe (1970), the discharge
of any phosphates from cooling tower installations into the
Ohio River is now prohibited. It is very likely that restrictions
on phosphate discharges will be in effect throughout the country
in the near future.
Chromates and Other Corrqsj.on Inhibitors. Cone (1970)
discussed the various types of chemicals that are frequently
used to control corrosion in cooling towers, emphasizing
some of the problems associated with the chemicals used. This
review should be consulted for a fairly recent discussion
of the chemicals that are likely to be present in cooling
tower blowdown water from industrial type cooling towers.
Chromate salts are generally found to be the most effective
inhibitors. Usually corrosion control can be secured by a
100-300 mg/1 chromate content in an open recirculating system
and 390-500 mg/1 chromate in a closed recirculating system.
Sometimes concentrations in excess of 500-1000 mg/1 are
necessary to prevent pitting, according to Cone (1970).
Cone notes that the addition of zinc to a chromate
inhibitor results in corrosion control or minimization at
lower chromate concentrations. Certain organics, such as
lignosulfonates and synthetic polymers are added to the chromate-
zinc-phosphate formulation to reduce pitting tendencies. Cone
notes that the use of silicates for corrosion control requires
fairly careful control of pH. It is reported that usually
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-15-
20-40 mg/1 of silicate are sufficient to obtain desired
protection in the cooling system and that the addition of
polyphosphates enhances corrosion inhibition.
Nitrites as anodic inhibitors for corrosion control are
used at 200-500 mg/1 or more. pH in the recirculation system
must be alkaline in order to prevent localized decomposition
of the nitrites. In some cases, fluoride is added with the
zinc-chromate-phosphate system to treat waters which contain
large amounts of aluminum. The fluoride complexes the aluminum
to prevent it from reacting with phosphates which are added
for corrosion control.
Cathodic inhibitors include various multivalent metals
such as zinc, nickel, manganese, and trivalent chromium. Again
the addition of phosphates to the system often allows the
cathodic inhibitor to be effective at lower concentrations.
Cone notes that organic inhibitors have been receiving increased
use in recent years. Some of the commonly used organic
inhibitors are amines, amides, pyridines, carboxylic acids,
esters and macaptans.
The organic phosphorus compounds mentioned above, the
polyol-esters and the phosphonates, are receiving increased
use along with some of the aminomethylene phosphonic acids.
Most of the formulations containing multi-component mixtures
of these various compounds are proprietary and the exact
composition is not readily known because of the proprietary
nature of the compounds. Cone (1970) claims that the most
widely used corrosion inhibitors for cooling water systems
are polyphosphates, zinc-phosphates, s.ilicates, and the zinc-
chromate-phosphate combination.
Zecher (1970b) discusses the difficulties encountered
in replacing chromate as a corrosion inhibitor in cooling
-------
-16-
tower systems. Other treatment programs are evaluated
from the standpoint of corrosion 'inhibition and potential
pollution of water receiving the tower blowdown.
Thornley (1968) discussed the various problems that occur
in cooling towers and the commonly used methods for evaluating
these problems. He notes that chromate is still one of the
most satisfactory chemicals for controlling corrosion in
cooling tower systems. The chromates are used in either
the high chromate treatment, concentrations of 200 to 2500 mg/1
of sodium chromate, or the low chromate treatment at con-
centrations on the order of 50 mg/1. With the latter,
normally it is combined with phosphates, zinc, and other chemicals
Donohue (1969) notes that the general tendency today in
cooling tower water conditioning is to reduce the use of
chromate for corrosion control and increase the zinc and
phosphate use. He predicts that eventually because of the
problems which are being created by zinc-phosphate systems
in natural waters receiving the blowdown, many plants will
go back to the chromate system coupled with the removal of
chromate from the blowdown water. He discusses a system
which enables the removal of chormate from the blowdown
water as well as reviewing some of the applications, various
types of chemicals used for water conditioning in cooling
towers, and the problems associated with their use.
Kelly(1968) has reviewed the procedures that can be used
to remove chromates from cooling tower blowdown. He notes
that effective chromate removal can be achieved by the use
of an ion exchange process; however, the cost of this process
is in the order of $0.511/lb of chromate removed. He
states that a very careful control of pH is essential to
produce a chromate free effluent and also, an adequate
feed of reducing agent is important.
-------
-17-
Schieber (1971) has discussed the removal of chromates
from cooling tower blowdown water, including consideration of
the cost of various types of processes that can be used for
this purpose, as well as chromate recovery. Hesler (1964)
further discusses the removal of chromates by the ion exchange
process noting some of the more important parameters that must be
carefully controlled in order to achieve good removal.
Puckorius and Farnsworth (1964) discuss a process which can
be used to recover the chromate and reuse it as a cornrosion
inhibitor in the cooling tower. They point out the
economic advantages of such a recovery process, as well as
the advantages of minimizing potential water quality problems
to the blowdown water discharge containing chromates.
Organics. There is an increasing tendency to use organic
compounds in cooling tower water conditioning. Motley and
Hoppe (1970) mention that the basic '^conventional" chemical
conditioning for cooling towers for electric generating
stations is the use of sodium hexametaphosphate for corrosion
and stabilization, sulfuric acid for control of pH and alkalinity,
aiid chlorine as a biocide. They predict that the organic
phosphate compounds will eventually supplant the sodium
hexametaphosphate treatment and may reduce the amount of acid
needed for alkalinity reduction.
Donohue (1967) discusses the use of organic topping
agents in cooling towers for water conditioning purposes.
Organic topping agents are organic based compounds added to
cooling water for the purpose of supplementing corrosion
inhibition, maintaining heat exchange surfaces as free of
deposit as possible, and preventing scale formation.
Typical materials used for this purpose are EDTA
(ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid), citric acid, gluconic
-------
-18-
acid, as well as various types of dispersants and coagulants.
He notes that many types of organic compounds are being explored
today for this purpose.
Lees and Twiford (1969) have discussed the theoretical
and practical aspects of the use of various types of
polyelectrolytes for water conditioning in cooling towers.
Their paper should be consulted for additional details on
this topic. Puckorius (1971) has reported on the use of a
combination of organic polymers with the more traditionally
used inorganic polymer, such as phosphates and silicates in
minimising corrosion in cooling towers. The nature of the
organic polymers is proprietary at this time; however, they
are classified as organic polyelectrolytes. The potential
effects of these compounds on water quality in natural waters
is unknown at present, although similar compounds have been
used for treatment of municipal water supplies. Hwa (1968)
discussed the replacement of chromatss with synthetic organic
compounds for corrosion control. Weisstuch, et al. (1970)
have discussed the use of complexing agents such as EDTA for
corrosion control in cooling towers. According to these
authors, there is a relatively strong bond formed between
the complexing agent and the metal which forms a tenacious
film and tends to inhibit further corrosion. Their paper
reviews the general nature of this process.
A new series of organic nitrogen corrosion inhibitors
are now being used in cooling towers. Von Koeppen, et al.
(1972) describe the mode of action and the effectiveness of
these aromatic compounds. They are used with a phosphate and
zinc mixture. Towers using this type of treatment will
discharge relatively large concentrations of organic nitrogen
and perhaps nitrate.
-------
-19-
Carter and Donohue (1972) discuss the use of nitrogen-
based compounds in conjunction with phosphonates to eliminate
the requirement for either chromate or zinc in certain cooling
towers.
Another potential problem with some of the organic
proprietary compounds used in cooling towers which eventually
will be discharged to natural waters through blowdown is the
fact that some of them are essentially non-biodegradable.
For example, the use of complexing agents such as EDTA in
cooling towers, which is s.ometimes recommended, could result
in this compound being dispersed into the environment. Since
EDTA appears at this time to be non-biodegradable, it would
cause significant problems in the environment as a result of
its strong complexing tendencies for potentially toxic
transition metals that are present in the sediment of natural
waters. The polyol-esters that were mentioned earlier may also
present problems by complexation of toxic metals. This area
should be thoroughly investigated.
Other Biocides. In order to minimize the delignification of
cooling tower lumber by fungi, Motley and Hoppe (1970)
state that normally inorganic chemicals or creosote is used
as a fungicide.
Willa (1965) discusses the use of polychlorophenates
as a means of controlling fungus attack on wood in cooling
towers. The chlorophenates are also used to control algae
and other slime growths. They may be fed continuously or inter-
mittently. There is considerable concern today among some water
chemists about the possibility of the chlorodioxin being con-
taminants in the chlorophenates used in cooling towers. The
chlorodioxins have been found to be one of the most toxic
compounds isolated by man. These were the compounds that
-------
-20-
caused the temporary suspension of the use of the herbicide,
2,U»5-T. Based on the manufacturing conditions that led to
the contamination of 2,U,5-T, it is possible that the chloro-
phenates may also be contaminated. This is an area of active
investigation at this time. The chlorodioxins are highly
mutagenic, showing toxicity at ug/1 levels. Furthermore,
the chloropheuolb are notorious for causing tastes and odors
in water supplies and the tainting of fish. Willa (1965)
notes that these compounds have been used at concentrations
up to 300 mg/1 as a shock treatment in some cooling towers.
Thornley (1968) presents an extended discussion of the
problems with various types of organisms in cooling towers and
the method for their control, noting that the chlorophenates,
acrolein, tri-butyltin oxide, certain thiocyanates and
quaternary ammonium compounds are used as biocides in cooling
towers. It should also be noted that while Thornley mentions
the fact that mercury compounds are excellent biocides, they
are rarely used because of toxicity in the blowdown water.
Based on the authors' experience, organic mercury compounds
have been discharged to surface waters and have been rer-
sponsible in part for some of the buildup of mercury in aquatic
food web in some areas.
Donohue (1971) mentions a new approach that may be
taken to avert the problem of toxic biocide residues in the
blowdown-, biocides that can be detoxified. Acrolein, tertiary
butyl hydrogen peroxide and bromo nitro styrene are effective
and stable as biocides in the tower but they may be readily
detoxified upon disposal by stoichiometric quantities of
sulfite. He suggests that these may eventually replace
all other non-oxidizing biocides.
Another source of chemicals that may be found in cooling
-------
-21-
tower blowdown water is the preservative chemicals leached
from the wood when the tower is first operated. At the
present time, little information is available on the nature
of these chemicals or the rates of leaching of these chemicals
from the wood. Puckorius (1970) mentions the condition
known as ''black water" resulting from the leaching of natural
organic materials from untreated redwood in newly constructed
or rebuilt towers. He also discusses the leaching of arsenic,
chromium, and copper salts (at levels exceeding WO mg/1),
and the creosote "slick" that results from treated lumber
early in operation of a tower.
Hoppe (1971) claims that the wood preservative salts
frequently used are cupric chromate and zinc chromate
Boliden or erdalith are used which are mixtures of copper
chromatoarsenite and in some instances, ferris salts.
General. Marshall (1971) has presented a general review
of some of the various types of chemical treatments used for
conditioning cooling tower waters. Freedman and Boies (1960)
have reviewed the problem of corrosion in cooling towers
and the various methods that can be used to reduce corrosion
rates. Parker and Krenkel (1969) have provided a general
review of the potential detrimental effects that can be
caused by the discharge of blowdown water on surface water
quality. Troscinski and Watson (1970) have reviewed the
various methods that are normally used to control deposits
within cooling tower systems.
Motley and Hoppe (1970) have discussed cooling tower
design criteria and water treatment. Their paper should be
consulted for further discussion of this topic. They point
out that much closer scrutiny of the constituents that may
be used in cooling tower water conditioning will have to be
given in order to meet the increasingly stringent water
-------
-22-
quality criteria that are being developed today.
Operating Practices for Cooling Tower Water Conditioning.
Kelly and Puckorius (1966) discuss the typical con-
centrations of various chemicals that are used for control of
corrosion, scale, and microbial growth in cooling towers.
It is of interest to examine some of these treatments (see
Table 2) in order to possibly ascertain what might be the
concentrations present in some cooling tower blowdown
waters.
TABLE 2*
Treatment Type Dosage (mg/1)
Polyphosphate-based (POLf) 20-tO
Organic-polyphosphate-based (PCL) 10-20
Chromate-phosphate (CrO^) 15-30
Chromate-based (CrO^) 15-20
Organic-chromate (CrO^) 5-15
Organic-based (Total Treatment) 50
*after Kelly and Puckorius (1966)
In an attempt to gain information on existing practices
with cooling towers located at electric generating stations,
T.C. Hoppe of Black and Veatch Consulting Engineers of Kansas
City was contacted regarding his experiences in water con-
ditioning in cooling towers. He (personal communication, 1971)
cited five different situations at cooling tower systems for
turbine generators in the range of 50=-850 MW. He states that
the majority of these stations use chemicals in addition to
sulfuric acid and chlorine. He provided five examples and
these are presented below:
-------
-23-
Water Conditioning at-Cooling Towers
for Electric Generating Stations (Hoppe, 1971)
a. Polyphosphate a -3 mg/1 (P00) , sulfuric acid,
o X
chlorine;
b. Sodium chromate at 25-30 mg/1 CrO^, polyphosphate
4-8 mg/1 (POQ) , sulfuric acid, chlorinej
o 5C
c. Organic phosphate at 25 mg/1 without zinc, sulfuric
acid, chlorine5
d. Organic zinc at 25 mg/1 without phosphate, sulfuric
acid, chlorine;
e. Sodium chromate at 5 mg/1 CrO without sulfuric acid.
On the other hand, T.A. Miskimen reports (personal communication,
1971) that all of the American Electric Power Company cooling
towers, except one, operate with just the addition of sulfuric
acid and chlorine.
A drive through the countryside of England generally
reveals large numbers of cooling towers at various thermal
electric generating stations. Superficially, it would appear
that the use of cooling towers in England is the preferred
method of disposal of water heat, based on the fact that
large numbers of cooling towers are present. However, further
examination of this situation reveals cooling towers are" used
in England only under those circumstances where once-thorugh
cooling cannot be readily practiced. Even where installed,
the cooling towers are generally used only on a limited
basis during low flow periods.
Another important difference between the English
practice in cooling towers and that of the U.S. is with respect
to the use of chemicals for water conditioning. The English
towers tend to operate on a 1 to 2 recycle ratio, while
in the U.S. , much higher recycle ratios are used. The low
-------
-24-
recycle ratio being used in England is designed to minimize
the problems of scaling, corrosion, etc. that often occurs
because of the chemicals present in the waters used for cooling
purposes. Often, in the more industrialized areas, water
quality available for use in cooling towers is such that higher
recycle ratios would require extensive water conditioning. In
general, the English cooling towers operate with little or
no water conditioning. They tend to be used to some extent
as a modified once-through cooling operation where very large
volumes of water are run through the cooling tower prior to
discharge. It is almost as though the cooling towers are
being used as part of the once-through cooling operations.
On the other hand, in the U.S., much higher recycle ratios
are used, thereby minimizing the amount of water discharged
from blowdown, necessitating much greater use of chemicals
for cooling tower water conditioning purposes.
Air Scrubbing
An evaporative type cooling tower represents a large
air scrubbing device, whereby materials which are contained
in air would be washed from it as part of the heat exchange
process. These various chemicals would tend to accumulate in
the recirculating water and would be discharged in the blowdown.
While to our knowledge no studies of this type have been
conducted thus far, this problem has been noted in the past.
For example, Thornley (1968) comments: "Don't place towers
next to boiler smoke stacks. The stack fumes will be drawn
into the tower and cause corrosive acid solutions." He
goes on to comment about the fact that cooling towers should
be located in a dust-free area because of the problems of
contamination of the recirculating water. The data on the
chemical composition of the atmosphere with respect to
potentially hazardous chemicals is quite limited. Some recent
-------
-25-
studies conducted at the Canadian Centre for Inland Waters
(CCIW), under the direction of Mary Thompson (1971), have
shown that the concentrations of potentially significant
chemicals in the air are quite large. The CCIW studies
represent, in many cases, approximately 100 analyses taken
at various locations in Canada, representing both urban and
rural environments. Table 3 presents the results of these
studies for the chemical composition of rainfall. While at
this time it is almost impossible to equate the composition
of rainfall and other precipitation to the composition of
blowdown water that might result from evaporative type cooling
towers, the rainfall water does provide an indication that
there are sufficient concentrations of various trace metals,
aquatic plant nutrients and other potentially toxic substances
present in the atmosphere to cause problems in water quality.
In fact, examination of Table 3 chows an average concentration
of phosphate, inorganic nitrogen, lead, copper, zinc, and
cadmium which would be considered excessive compared to the
new water quality standards that are being developed by
various states and the federal government. In other words,
often precipitation would not meet the new standards such
as those proposed for Lake Superior by the FWQA (1969) and the
State of Minnesota (Minnesota, 1970),
Glover (1970) considers the air-borne contamination
of cooling tower water. He presents the following formula for
calculating the absorption of soluble gases and suspended
solids from the air:
BC = RC = (AC)(WE)(SF)|^|
where BC = concentration of air-borne contamination in
blowdown water, Ib contaminant/lb water
-------
-26-
TABLE 3
Chemical Composition of Precipitation
Data from Canada Centre for Inland Waters*
Parameter
Total PO^
Soluble Re-
active PO^
Nitrate - N
Ammonia - N
Chloride
Sulfate
Sodium
Potassium
Magnesium
Calcium
Bicarbonate
Lead
Copper
Iron
Zinc
Cadmium
Mean
Standard
Deviation
Maximum
Minimum
292.00 ug/1 542.00 ug/1 380x10 ug/1 5.00 ug/1
180.00 ug/1
1.32 mg/1
1.03 mg/1
3.05 mg/1
9.23 mg/1
3.10 mg/1
0.59 mg/1
0.64 mg/1
4.50 mg/1
6.20 mg/1
25.00 ug/1
27.00 ug/1
58.00 ug/1
98.00 ug/1
2.00 ug/1
449.00 ug/1
1.60 mg/1
1.20 mg/1
4.72 mg/1
5.11 mg/1
4.70 mg/1
0.78 mg/1
0.69 mg/1
3.90 mg/1
9.50 mg/1
29.00 ug/1
101.00 ug/1
61.00 ug/1
51.00 ug/1
3.00 ug/1
340x10 ug/1
10.80 mg/1
9.25 mg/1
25.80 mg/1
26.10 mg/1
24.20 mg/1
6.00 mg/1
4.10 mg/1
24.00 mg/1
50.10 mg/1
160.00 ug/1
800.00 ug/1
310.00 ug/1
272.00 ug/1
16.00 ug/1
0.00 ug/1
0.07 mg/1
0.00 mg/1
0.11 mg/1
0.80 mg/1
0.10 mg/1
0.08 mg/1
0.00 mg/1
0.00 mg/1
0.00 mg/1
1.00 ug/1
0.00 ug/1
1.00 ug/1
10.00 ug/1
0.00 ug/1
-After Thompson (1971)
-------
-27-
RC B concentration of air-borne contaminants in
recirculating water, lb contaminant/lb water
AC = concentration of contaminant in the atmosphere,
lb contaminant/cu ft air.
WE = washing efficiency
_ lb contaminant entering water
lb contaminant in air circulated through tower
(generally 0.95-1.0)
AR = air rate in cu ft air/lb water recirculated
through the tower- (generally about 10 cu ft
air/lb water).
BD = blowdown fraction = lb water blowdown/lb water
recirculated.
SF = suspended fraction
_ lb contaminant remaining suspended in solution
lb contaminant washed from.' aar
(1.0 for- soluble gases and soluble dusts and
0.1-0.5 for insoluble dusts).
According to Glover, the quantity of insoluble suspended
materials scrubbed from the atmosphere frequently dictates the
amount of blowdown required.
Glover's formula may be used to approximate the expected
degree of contamination of blowdown water from atmospheric
sources. In Table 4 the calculated mean and maximum contam-
ination of blowdown water is shown. The ambient air-borne
levels of contaminants are highly variable, with generally
higher values in urban areas for most contaminants. The ambient
mean and maximum air-borne values shown in Table U wer.e selected
from two sources. The values for Pb, Cu3 Ni, and V are rep-
resentative of an urban particulate; those for the other species
are national averages except where noted.
It is assumed for the calculations that the washing
efficiency is 1.0, the air rate is 10 cu ft air/lb re-
circulating water, and the blowdown fraction is 0.006 which
is the sum of the blowdown and drift loss expected for
-------
-28-
cooling towers designated for the Zion Nuclear Power Station
of the Commonwealth Edison Company (Sargent and Lundy, 1971).
Since it is not known what portion of the air-borne particulate
may be soluble, a value of 0.5 is used for the suspended
fraction. Hence, for the mean air-borne phosphorus value of
3
1.43 ug/m ,
BC = (8.86 x 10~1:L)(1)(0.5) n *° = 0.0715 mg/1
0 . UUb
It is evident from Table M- that Fe, Pb, An, P, Cd,
+ = '
Hg, NH^ or SO^ could occur in the blowdown water at a level
that would create a disposal problem solely from atmospheric
sources. This would be most likely to occur for a tower
located in an urban or industrial area. Ammonia could become
a particular problem upon chlorination of the cooling tower
for control of microorganisms. The chloramines that are
formed are highly toxic to fish at ug/1 levels. When ammonia
is in the mg/1 range in the recirculating water, extreme care
must be taken to avoid fish kills from the discharge of
chloramines.
Loss of Volatile Material
The stripping by air of volatile materials from cooling
tower recirculating water is another effect that influences
the chemical composition of the blowdown water. Ammonia
and volatile organic contaminants in the recirculating water
would be the principal species affected and, as such, stripping
would not be expected to be of great significance unless
waste waters are used as the tower makeup.
Roesler, e_t al. (1971) have devised a computer program
for determining the degree of removal of ammonia from waste
water by air stripping in a conventional cooling tower in-
stallation. The Georgia Kraft Company (1971) investigated
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the use of a cooling tower for the removal of biological
oxygen demand (BOD) from kraft mill wastes. They found that
25-30 percent of the waste water BOD could be removed by a
cooling tower. The primary mechanism of BOD removal was
not biological consumption but the physical process of
stripping of the volatile components in the waste water. They
recommended further investigation of the impact of this
process on air quality.
COMPOSITION OF SLOWDOWN WATER
Very little information exists today on the chemical
composition of blowdown water in the U.S. Davies (1966)
reported on the chemical composition of several cooling tower
blowdown waters located on streams in England. He found that
chloride and sodium sulfate concentrations build up in the
blowdown water in proportion to the degree of concentration
by evaporation and the concentrations in the makeup water.
His discussion did not provide sufficient data to determine
what concentrations of some of the more critical elements might
accumulate in typical cooling towers operated in England.
Hoppe (1966) discusses some of the problems associated with
the use of various types of chemicals in water conditioning
in cooling towers. In particular, he examines the problems
of corrosion control with the chromate-zinc treatment, the zinc-
polyphosphate treatment, and the zinc-organic treatment.
He presents a waste treatment removal scheme for the removal of
chromate and zinc from blowdown waters, as well as a system
for discharge of blowdown to deep disposal wells. Hoppe
presents a table in this paper for cooling tower blowdown
water composition of an industrial type cooling tower which
uses a zinc-organic based formulation for the cooling
makeup water conditioning. This table is reproduced in this
-------
-31-
paper as Table 5 for comparison purposes.
The cooling tower literature contains several papers which
present a limited amount of data on the recirculation water,
blowdown water or simulated recirculation water which would
be used for various types of testing for corrosion control,
etc. Table 6 is a compilation- of selected data from the
various papers from the literature. Examination of Table 6
shows that generally pH for these various cooling tower
waters is near 7 with a hardness ranging from several hundred
to over a thousand mg/1 as calcium carbonate. The calcium
and magnesium content of the water averages about 100-300 mg/1
with a total alkalinity ranging from 5-M-M- mg/1 as calcium
carbonate. The chloride content is several hundred mg/1 with
sulfate ranging from 250 to 14-00 mg/1. The change in bicar-
bonate and carbonate alkalinity to sulfate is quite evident
from the table. The dissolved solids content for the three
samples given range from approximately 1000-2000 mg/1.. The
one sample shows a chromate concentration of 280 mg/1.
The rather meager data on the. chemical composition of
cooling tower blowdown water prompted the authors to contact
several firms and associates for unpublished data. W.T. Betz
Company of Trevose, Pennsylvania provided data of this type.
Table 7 presents the characteristics of each of the cooling
towers studied. Data is given, on location, water source, and
type of treatment used.
The data in Table 8 from Betz Laboratories shows approxi-
mately the same characteristics as the data presented in
Table 6 for the ten different cooling towers for the common
parameters such as pH, hardness, calcium, magnesium, and
alkalinity. Although it is of interest to note that typically,
the alkalinity values in the Betz reports are considerably
-------
-32-
TABLE 5
Analysis of Cooling To-^er Slowdown
OA Zinc-Organic Treatment*
pH 8.0
Total alkalinity as calcium carbonate 146 rog/1
Total hardness -as calcium carbonate 1327 mg/^
Calcium hardness as calcium carbonate 347 mg/1
Sulfare as calcium carbonate 1360 mg/1
Chloride as calcium carbonate 134 mg/1
Zinc as zinc 1.2 mg/1
Total dissolved solid* 2728 mg/1
Specific conductance 3040 umho/cm
Ammonia as N 0*04 mg/1
5 day DOD 1 mg/1
The cost for suov tj.-eat-.ent was estimated by Hoppe to be in
the order of $0.1275/1000 gallons of ajs
*After Hoppe (1966)
-------
-33-
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higher than those reported in Table 6, it is possible that
the combination of use of the various types of chemicals in
treating the cooling tower enables the operator of these
towers to carry higher alkalinity values without having^
severe scale problems. This is also noted because of the fact
that the sulfate levels in the Betz data tend to be somewhat
less. It is of interest that the phosphate levels of the
various cooling towers for Betz range from a few tenths up
to several mg/1. Chromate typically runs 6-25 mg/1. Zinc,
when used, is approximately 0.5-7 mg/1.
One additional source of chemical analysis data on
cooling tower blowdown water was obtained from the Illinois
State Water Survey (1971). This data is presented in Table 9
where analyses from November, 1971, are presented for six
different nan-industrial cooling towers located in the State
of Illinois. The cooling towers are located at various
State of Illinois institution buildings.
Examination of the data presented in Table 9 shows
that in general the chemical characteristics of these cooling
tower blowdown waters are approximately the same as those
presented in Table 6 from the literature. It is of interest
to note that some of the Illinois State Water Survey cooling
towers have several mg/1 of phosphate. This data also
gives an indication of the levels of trace metals, such as
chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc in these cooling towers
Generally, the concentrations of these various metals range
from less than 50 ug/1 to several hundred ug/1, except for
chromium which ranges from 20-60 mg/1. It is obvious that all
of these cooling towers receive a chromate treatment. The
lead and nickel concentrations are uniformally less than
50 ug/1, with zinc typically ranging in the order of a few
tenths of a mg/1. The cadmium levels in all samples were
-------
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Carton (1972) has assembled information on typical values
for the concentration of certain chemical species commonly
found in cooling tower blowdown. Table 10 is taken from
Garto'n^s paper. The values are similar to those quoted from
other authors-, in addition, several specific organic species
are listed.
The AEC (19/2) considered the possible detrimental
effects of utilizing cooling towers at the Palisades Nuclear
Generating Plant of Consumers Power Company. Mechanical
draft wet type cooling towers would be utilized at this
plant. These towers would have blowdown of 1,320 gpm.
The recirculating water in the tower would be treated inter-
mittently with sodium hypouhlorite as a biocide. Also
phosphate and zinc compounds were to be added to the re-
circulating water as corrosion inhibitors. It was estimated
that the phosphate content in the blowdown would be 0.27 mg/1 P
and 0.036 ing/1 of zinc. These concentrations were to be
achieved in the water discharged to the lake after dilution
with 60,000 gpm of dilution water. It was further estimated
that sulfuric acid would be added to the system recirculating
water to give a sulfate ion concentration of 48.9 mg/1 in
the discharge water.
Blowdown Water..Toxicity
There is little information available concerning the
toxicity of cooling tower blowdown water to aquatic organisms.
The measured tolerance level values (TL,-n) for minnows for
certain selected cooling water treatment chemicals are pre-
sented by Donohue (1971). These values, which ware apparently
determined by Betz Laboratories, are listed in Table 11.
-------
-uo-
TABLE 10
Conunon Chemicals and Concentrations Found in
Recirculating Cooling Tower Water
After Garton, 1972
Treatment Chemical Concentrations
Chromate-zinc 2-15 mg/1 CrOr as Cr
1-5 mg/1 Zn
Chromate-zinc-phosphate 2-15 mg/1 CrO^ as Cr
(organic or inorganic) 1-15 mg/1 Zn
0.3-1.5 mg/1 PO^ as P or
0.3-1.5 mg/1 organic phosphate as P
Zinc-inorganic phosphate 2-10 mg/1 Zn
3-10 mg/1 P04 as P
Zinc-organic phosphate 1-10 mg/1 Zn
1-5 mg/1 organic phosphate as P
Organic phosphate scale
inhibitor 0.3-6 mg/1 organic phosphate at P
Silt control polymers 0.1-5 mg/1 acrylamide, polyacrylate,
polyenthyleneimine, or other
synthetic organic polyelectrolytes.
Natural liquin-tannin type
dispersants 1-50 mg/1 as sodium liquosulfonate
Non-oxidizing organic biocides 1-25 mg/1 sodium polychlorophenol,
quaternary amine, organo-metallic
methylene bis-thiocyanate, etc.
Specific oxygen corrosion 1-5 mg/1 sodium mercaptobenzo-
inhibitors thiazole or benzotriazole
-------
TABLE 11
Toxicity of Certain Selected Cooling Water Treatment Chemicals
to Minnows*
After Donohue (1971)
Chemical TL5Q
Phosphonate (amino trimethylene phosphonate) ^1000 mg/1
Mercaptobenzothiazole (MET) 3 mg/1
Benzotriazole (BZT) UO mg/1
Hexametaphosphate ^500 mg/1
Sodium nitrate 500 mg/1
Zinc sulfate 15 mg/1
'•species not designated
The acute toxicity of the phosphate species is quite
low. It is interesting to note, however, in Table 10 that
the concentration of mercaptobenzothiazole used in some
treatment programs is at the level of acute toxicity quoted
in Table 11 for this compound. A "safe" level of contaminant
is generally considered to be 1/100 of the TL . If the
blowdown is not diluted in this case by a factor of at least
100 it may be toxic to fish.
Carton (1972) working at the Environmental Protection
Agency Laboratory, Corvallis, Oregon, conducted a series of
bioassays on simulated cooling tower blowdown water. The
simulated blowdown water was prepared to approximate the
maximum proposed chemical composition of cooling tower blow-
down water from the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant of the Portland
General Electric Company as reported in the company's discharge
permit request. The company planned to use a chromate-
zinc-phosphate treatment.
-------
-42-
Two different organisms were used in the bioassay: a
green alga, Selenastrum capricornutum Printz, and the young
steelhead trout, Salmo gairdneri. Test solutions were the
original strength simulated blowdown and dilution of the
simulated blowdown by factors of 10, 100, and 1000.
The results of the bioassays indicate that zinc and
chromate in the simulated blowdown are toxic to the alga at
0.064 mg/1 and 0.14 mg/1, respectively, as measured by re-
duction in algal productivity. The juvenile steelhead trout
showed no lethal effects in 96 hours at 31 mg/1 CrO^, but
the 96 hour LC,-0 (lethal concentration for 50 percent of
individuals) for zinc was 0.09 mg/1. Using the recommended
application factor of 1/100 of the 96 hour TL^r, (LC5Q) determined
by this investigation, safe stream standards become 0.0009 mg/1
Zn for steelhead trout.
If zinc standards are lowered in the future to levels
proposed by the EPA for Lake Superior or to levels indicated
by the above report, it is unlikely that even the more conventional
blowdown treatment, that is, lime or alum precipitation, can
render the blowdown water as free of zinc as necessary for
discharge if zinc is used in the treatment program. The
removal by dispersant chemicals added to the tower. Ion
exchange or other advanced treatment systems may become
mandatory at a substantial increase in cost.
The AEG (1972) , in their evaluation of the potential
impact of cooling towers at the Palisades Nuclear Electric
Generating Station, concluded that phosphate, zinc, chlorine
and sulfate present in the blowdown waters may have an impact on
phytoplankton in Lake Michigan. The phosphate would tend to
stimulate algal growth in the region of the discharge. The
-------
-43-
zinc in the blowdown would likely enter into the food web
and be concentrated to a much higher level in aquatic organisms«.
Further, the AEC felt that there may be a toxicity problem
due to zinc on the algae where the presence of zinc would
inhibit photosynthesis. The chlorine present in the blow-
down water would, according to the AEC, likely cause some
destruction of plankton near the point of discharge.
The AEC also stated that the zinc may have an adverse
effect on fish due to chronic sublethal toxicity of the zinc
to various fish species.
Treatment of Blowdown
From the rather limited data available on the chemical
composition of cooling tower blowdown water, it is apparent
that in some instances, the blowdown water contains chemicals
which would cause significant degradation of quality in re-
ceiving waters. Further, it should be noted that some of
the most potentially important parameters with respect to
causing chronic sublethal effects on aquatic organisms, such
as ammonia, various trace metals and chloramines have not
been analyzed at the concentrations which have recently been
found to cause deleterious effects to aquatic organisms.
It is reasonable to predict that as a result of further study,
increasing attention will have to be given to the treatment
of cooling tower blowdown waters. While, in general, it is
technologically possible to remove many of the chemicals present
in cooling tower blowdown, the cost of such treatment should
be considered in any assessment of the use of cooling towers
versus once-through cooling as a means of disposal of waste
heat. Unfortunately, very little information has been
published on these costs. Glover (1970) presents a discussion
of the cost of treatment of cooling tower blowdown water. He
-------
estimates the cost of treatment by lime/alum precipitation
with sulfur dioxide reduction of chromate, when it is used,
to meet some of the more stringent water quality standards
in effect at the time the paper was published. He also lists
the level of some of the treatment techniques that will be
found in the blowdown under various treatment programs. In
Table 12 Glover's table is reproduced, except that the con-
centration of chemical species in the blowdown water is com-
pared to the current Illinois Pollution Control Board
standards for Lake Michigan (IPCB, 1972) now in effect
rather than to the Pennsylvania standards used by Glover.
The ratio of the blowdown chemical concentration to the
IPCB standard is listed for applicable chemical species.
According to Glover, a ratio of ten or less of a particular
chemical species does not require specific treatment since
in-plant dilution of the blowdown may be assumed to be a
factor of about ten. This may not be the case for a thermo-
electric power plant using only cooling towers for condenser
cooling.
The treatment costs shown in Table 12 were computed by
Glover considering only chemical and sludge handling expenses.
The residual levels of chromate, zinc, and phosphate after
treatment are not given. The cost of removal of the organics
if it is required is based on one-time-use activated carbon
adsorption. Reactivation of the carbon may reduce the cost
to 12{ to 24<:/1000 gal., according to Glover.
It is evident from examination of Table 12 that large
evaporative type cooling towers could require substantial amounts
of funds needed for treatment of cooling tower blowdown
waters in order to meet existing water quality standards.
-------
TAE1.E 12
Uaste Disposal Characteristics and Cost of Treating Cooling Tower Slowdown
After Glover (1970).
Chemical Concentrations
Treatment in Blowdoim Water
IPCB
Lake
Standard
Ratio of
Slowdown
Concentration
for IPCB
Standard
Disposal $ Cost
per 1000 gal
Slowdown
chroiaate
only
zinc-chro
mate
zinc-chro-
raate-phos-
phate
phosphate
only
zinc-phos-
phate
phosphate
organic
organic
only
organic bio-
cide
95-225 mg/1 Cr
8-35 mg/3 Zn
7-30 mg/1 Cr
8-35 mg/1 Zn
4-7 mg/1 Cr
10-15 mg/1 P
5-20 tng/1 P
8-35 eg/1 Zn
5-20 mg/1 P
5-20 ig/1 P
3-10 mg/1 "organic"
100-200 mg/1 "organ-
ic"
10 reg/1 BOD (est.)
100 mg/1 COD (est)
50 mg/1 CCl^ extract-
ed (est.)
5 mg/1 MBAS
30 mg/1 chlorophenol
5 mg/1 sulfone
1 rag/1 thiocyanate
0.05 mg/1
1.0 mg/1
0.05 mg/1
1.0 mg/1
0.05 mg/1
0.007 tpg/1
0.007 mg/1
1.0 mg/1
0.007 mg/1
0.007 mg/1
none
0.1 mg/1
0.025 mg/1
as Ci\T
5000
15
200
15
100
1500
1500
15
10GO
1000
—
300
$0.70
0.16
0.13
0.12
0.14
0.13
1.25
0.1-1.25
-------
-46-
SUMMARY
It is evident from the above review that a wide variety
of potentially significant.chemicals are used in cooling towers
in an attempt to minimize scale, corrosion, wood, deterioration,
and general biological fouling. Further, the operating
characteristics of cooling towers can lead to excessive con-
centrations of chemicals in blowdown which are derived from
the makeup water, atmospheric sources, and the cooling tower
and recirculating water structures. It is entirely plausible,
based "on the types and amounts of chemicals used in various
types of cooling towers, that significant concentrations of
these chemicals could be found in blowdown water which would
cause significant deterioration of water quality in the waters
receiving the bUowdown,
It is difficult to obtain information on the actual
chemicals used in various cooling towers because of the proprietary
nature of these compounds, as well as the fact that cooling
tower operators are reluctant to give out this type of in-
formation. However, based on review of the literature and
extensive discussions with various individuals in the cooling
tower water conditioning field, as well as those that operate
the towers in various parts of the country, it can be con-
cluded that cooling towers of the industrial type generally
use a wide variety of chemicals for water conditioning purposes.
The larger cooling towers, especially those at thermal electric
generating stations, of the natural draft type, sometimes operate
with only the addition of sulfuric acid for neutralization of
alkalinity and pH control, and chlorine as a biocide.
Typically mechanical draft evaporative type cooling towers
tend to use somewhat larger amounts and a greater variety
of chemicals than natural draft towers, although this gen-
-------
-47-
eralization would be dependent on location of the tower,
characteristics of the tower, and other factors. Therefore,
as a minimum, one would expect blowdown water from electric
generating stations and other cooling towers to contain
increased concentrations of sulfate, chloride, chlorine, and
chloramines, as well as various chemicals that may be scrubbed
from the air, arise from corrosion, or leach from the tower
structure. Under the worst possible conditions, with respect
to the potential effect of Slowdown water on receiving water
quality, the blowdown water could contain a wide variety of
highly toxic inorganic and organic chemicals which could have
significant deleterious effects on aquatic organisms and
man. It is evident from this review that much greater attention
must be given to potential deleterious effects of cooling tower
blowdown on receiving water quality.
-------
-48-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We wish to acknowledge the assistance given this lit-
erature review by T.C. Hoppe of Black and Veatch Engineers,
Kansas City, the Illinois State Water Survey, Urbana, Illinois,
the Betz Laboratories, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and M.
Thompson of the Canada Centre for Inland Waters.
This paper was supported by funds from the Commonwealth
Edison Company, Chicago, Illinois and an Environmental
Protection Agency Training Grant No. 5P2-WP-184-04. In addition,
support was given by the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering at the University of Wisconsin.
-------
-49-
REFERENCES*
Atomic Energy Commission, Final Environmental Statement
for the Palisades Nuclear Generating Plant, Consumers
Power Company Docket No. 50-255 (June, 1972).
Betz Company, Personal communication (1971).
Carter, A.D. and Donohue, J.M. "New Protective Measures for
Cooling Systems" Mat'l. Prot. and Perf. (June, 1972).
Christiansen, P.B. and Colman, D.R. "Reduction of Slowdown
from Power Plant Cooling Tower Systems" in Industrial
Process Design for Water Pollution Control, Vol. II.
AICE (1970).
Cone, C.S. "A Guide for Selection of Cooling Water Corrosion
Inhibitors" Mat'l, Prot, and Perf. (June, 1972).
Crutchfield, H.C. "The Power Industry's Requirement for Cooling
Towers" Presented at Cooling Tower Institute Meeting,
(January, 1970).
Gummings, R.O. "The Use of Municipal Sewage Effluent in
Cooling Towers1' Presented at Cooling Tower Institute
Meeting No. 41, (June, 1964).
Dalton, T.F. "Cooling Water Treatment Chemicals Stops
Pollution for Reusable Water" Nat'l Eng. 66: 10-11
(May, 1962).
Davies. I. "Chemical Changes in Cooling Water Towers"
Air and Water Pollution, 10_: 853-863 (1966).
Donohue, J.M. "Organic Topping Agents1' Southern Engineering
52-54 (January, 1967).
Donohue, J.M. "Changes in Cooling Water Treatment" W.T. Betz
Company, Trevose, Pa., mimeo. (May, 1969).
*Many of the papers which serve as the primary source of
information for this review are unpublished in the technical
literature. Many of them have been presented at meetings
of the Cooling Tower Institute. This institute maintains a
file of selected papers presented at their annual meetings.
Copies of some of these papers may be obtained by contacting
the institute in Houston, Texas.
-------
-50-
Donohue, J.M. ''Pollution Abatement Pressures Influence Cooling
Water Conditioning" llat'l Prot and Perf (Dec., 1971)
also Betz Laboratories Technical Paper 222.
Ford, G.L. "Discussion." Engineering Aspects of Thermal
Pollution Parker, F.L. and Krenkel, P.A., Eds.
Vanderbilt Univ. Press, 272-281 (1969).
Freedman, A.J. and Boies, D.B. "Cooling Water Corrosion
Problems: Causes and Cures" Nalco Chemical Co.
Reprint No. 101 (1960).
F.W.Q.A. Lake Superior Enforcement Conference, Federal Water
Quality Administration (1969).
F.W.Q.A. Feasibility of Alternative Means of Cooling for
Thermal Power Plants near Lake Michigan, Federal
Water Quality Administration (1970).
Carton, R.R. "Biological Effects of Cooling Tower Slowdown"
Presented at American Institute of Chemical Engineers
meeting (Feb., 1972).
Georgia Kraft Company, Treatment of Selected Internal
Kraft Mill Wastes in a Cooling Tower. Water Pollution
Research Series, U.1T Environmental "Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. (1971).
Glover, G.E. "Cooling Tower Slowdown Treatment Costs"
in Industrial Process Design for Water Pollution Control,
Vol. II. AICE (1970).
Hesler, J.C. "Recovery and Reuse of Chromatres from Cooling
Tower Blowdown. Part I." Nalco Chemical Co. Reprint
No. 150, Proc. Int'l. Water Conf. (September, 1964).
Hoppe, T.C. "Industrial Cooling Water Treatment for Minimum
Pollution from Blowdown" Proc. Am. Power Conf. (1966).
Hoppe, T.C. Personal Communication, Black and Veatch Engineers,
Kansas City, Mo. (1971).
Hwa, C.M. "New, Non-Chromate Synthetic — Organic Corrosion
Inhibitor for Cooling Water Systems.i; Presented at
Cooling Tower Institute Meeting, (June, 1968).
-------
-51-
Illinois Pollution Control Board, Water Pollution Regulations
of Illinois (March, 1972).
Illinois State Water Survey, Personal Communication (1971).
Kelly, B.J. "Removing Chromates." Nalco Chemical Co. Reprint
No. 174, Ind. Water Eng. (September, 1968).
Kelly, B.J. and Puckorius, P.R. "Cooling Water Controls."
Selected Papers on Cooling Tower Water'.Treatment
Illinois State Water Survey Circular No. 91, Urbana,
111., 77-90 (1966).
Lees, R.D. and Twiford, J.L. "Polyelectrolytes as Cooling
Water Antifoulants" Presented at Cooling Tower Institute
Meeting, (January, 1969).
Marshall, W.L "Thermal Discharges: Characteristics and Chemical
Treatment of Natural Waters Used in Power Plants"
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Publication ORNL-U652 (1971).
Minnesota, State of, Proposed Water Quality Criteria,
Minnesota MPC 33 (1970).
Miskimen, T.A. Personal Communication, American Electric/
Power Service Co., New York, N.Y. (October 12, 1971).
Morrow, N.C. and Brief, R.S. "New York City Particulate
Matter" Environmental Science and Technology, 5,
786-789 (1971),
Motley, F.W. and. Hoppe, T.C. "Cooling Tower Design Criteria
and Water Treatment" Presented at Cooling Tower Institute
Meeting, (June, 1970).
Parker, F.L. and Krenkel, P.A. Thermal Pollution: State
of the Art, Report No. 3, Dept. of Environmental and
Water Resources Engineering, Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville,
Tenn. (1969).
Puckorius, P.R. "Tower as Part of Cooling System'" Ind.
Water Eng. T_, 5: U3-UU (May, 1970).
Puckorius, P.R. ''Organic/Inorganic Polymers —• A New Treatment
for Cooling Water Systems" Presented at Cooling Tower
Institute Meeting, (January, 1971).
-------
-52-
Puckorius, P.R. and Farnsworth, N.B. "Recovery and Reuse of
Chromates from Cooling Tower Slowdown. Part II." Nalco
Chemical Co. Reprint No. 150, Proc. Int'l. Water Conf.
(September, 1964).
Roesler, J.F., Smith, M.R., and Eilers, R.G. "Simulation of
Ammonia Stripping from Wastewater" ASCE Sanitary
Engineering Journal SA3, 269-286 (June, 1971).
Sargent and Lundy Company, Inter-office memorandum (August
27, 1971).
Savinelli, E.A. and Beecher, J.S. "Laboratory and Field
Evaluation of Corrosion Inhibitors for Open Circulation
Water Systems" Selected Papers on Cooling Tower Water
Treatment. Illinois State Water Survey Circular
No. 91, Urbana, 111., 5-23 (196G).
Schieber, J. "The Chrcmate Removal Process" Universal
Interloc, Inc., mimeo, (May, 1971).
Sloan, L. and Nilrti, N.J. "Operating Experiences with Ion
Exchange Chroraate Recovery System" Selected Papers on
Cooling Tower Water ' Treatment, Illinois State Water
Survey Circular No. 91, Urbana, 111., 101-111 (1966).
Smith, R.M. "Use of a Cooling Tower as a Trickling Filter
in Pollution Control" Presented at Cooling Tower
Institute Meeting, (January, 1964).
Terry, S.L. "Use of Sewage Effluent as Cooling Tower Makeup"
Selected Papers on Cooling Tower Water Treatment. Illinois
State Water Survey Circular No. 91, Urbana, 111.,
112-121 (1966).
Thompson, M.E. Personal Communication, Canadian Centre for
Inland Waters (1971).
Thornley, J.L. "Water Treatment for Cooling Towers1' Presented
at Cooling Tower Institute Meeting, (June, 1968).
Troscinski, E.S. and Watson, R>.G. "Controlling Deposits in
Cooling Water Systems" Chem. Engr. (March, 1970).
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-53-
USHEW, Preliminary Air Pollution Survey of Iron and its
Compounds (1969a).
USHEW, Preliminary Air Pollution Survey of Zinc and its
Compounds (1969b).
USHEW, Preliminary Air Pollution Survey of Phosphorus and its
Compounds (1969c) .
USHEW, Preliminary Air Pollution Survey of Chromium and its
Compounds (1969d).
USHEW, Preliminary Air Pollution Survey of Cadmium and its
Compounds (1969e).
USHEW, Preliminary Air Pollution Survey of Mercury and its
Compounds (1969f). Range of 0.001-0.01 for Palo Alto,
CA vapor only.,
USHEW, Preliminary Air Pollution Survey of Ammonia and its
Compounds (.19 6 9 g).
USHEW, Preliminary Air Pollution Survey of Arsenic and its
Compounds (1969h),
von Koeppen, A. Pasowicz, A.F., and M^tz, R.A, "Mon-Chromate
Corrosion Inhibitors" Ind. Water Eng. 9_: 3, 25-29
(April/May, 1972).
Waselkow, C. "Design and Operation of Cooling Towers'* Engineering
Aspects of Thermal Pollution. Parker, F.L. and Krenkel, P.A.,
Eds., VAnderbilt Univ. "Press 249-271 (1969).
Weisstuch, A., Carter, D.A. and Nathan, C.C. "Chelation
Compounds as Cooling Water Corrosion Inhibitors"
Presented at National Assn. of Corrosion Engineers
Conf. (March, 1970).
Willa, J. "Application Techniques for Treating Cooling Towers
with Polychlorophenates71 Presented at Cooling Tower
Institute Meeting, (January, 1965).
Zecher, B.C. Comment in "Cooling Towers Q £ A" Ind. Water
Eng. 7_, 11: 19-21 (November, 1970a).
Zecher, D.C. "Problems in Replacing Chromate as a Corrosion
Inhibitor for Open-Recirculating Cooling Waters" in
Industrial Process Design for Water Pollution Control,
Vol. II. AICE (1970b).
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362
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 MR. MAYO: We had asked, gentlemen, that you hold
3 the questioning until the completion of these presentations.
4 Do you have any questions?
|
5 MR. FELDMAN: Why don't I bring them all back up,
6 Mr. Mayo?
7 MR. McDONALD: At the risk of inciting a riot in
this endurance contest, I am going to ask a couple of ques-
9 tions,
10 I would like to address my question to Dr,
11 Pritchard,
12 Dr, Pritchard, I am interested in this sinking
13 plume phenomenon, and I am particularly interested in your
14 announcement of this sinking plume at this session of the
15 conference, in that at least my understanding — and you may
have to help me here because I wasn't at the previous
17 session — that previous presentations by you indicated
that the thermal plume dispersion was more of a hugging
19 and outward flow rather than a sinking plume phenomenon
20 And if I understand the sinking plume phenomenon in your
21 presentation of it, this is a fact of physics that has been
22 there and why, at this point, is it brought up for the
first time? What investigation, what set of factors led to
01
^ the sinking plume not being recognized before by you?
DR. PRITGHARD: Well, the conclusions that I come
-------
363
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 to right now with respect to Zion are not different than
3 the conclusions that I had arrived at about Zion previously
4 in the discussion of the sinking plume. In fact, I don't
5 ! think there was much recognition of a winter problem or a
6 possibility of a winter problem in earlier considerations,
7 I will readily admit that I did not consider winter in the
i
8 early stages of my analysis of the general subject of
9 thermal effects. I thought mostly of the warmer periods
10 of time.
11 The winter situation with the possibility of —
12 well, with the fact that the natural temperatures of the
13 lake dropped below the temperature maximum density, was
14 raised during the Illinois hearings — the second — not
15 the Illinois hearings on standards but the Illinois hearings
16 related to Zion itself. And at that time I stated that my
17 calculations at the time indicated that the excess momentum
in the Zion jet would carry that plume through the critical
region of having water sinking, which exceeded 3° above
20 ambientj and that if any sinking occurred, or if there
21 was, let's say, bottoming out — which is really a more
22 proper term because it isn't a diving plume, it actually
reaches a stage when the momentum settles down ~ there is
essentially a spreading out at the bottom (indicating)
that this would involve, that small temperature differences
-------
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 have no biological significance. Whether or not even above
3 3° is another question. But certainly at the temperatures
4 that now appear and those that I felt would occur then—
5 we are talking about the possibility if overage of fish
6 which overwinter do occur in the region — we are only
7 talking about changes in the incubation period of a matter
of hours for temperatures that now appear likely at
9 Zion.
10 The reason for bringing it up at this time, how-
11 ever, is: 1) the question was raised at the Illinois hear-
12 ing; 2) Argonne has actually made some measurements of the
13 phenomena; 3) during the course of investigation of Waukegan
14 which involved studies during the winter — and I might say
15 that the winter plume, while physically there, the phenomena
16 of having temperatures exceeding 3° on the bottom had not
17 really been looked at before the questions were raised and
before people began to look at plumes in winter. No one
got out in the lake and measured plumes in the wintertime,
20 Argonne had done some, but there had been no real serious
21 effort made until it was deemed necessary on the basis of
22 preliminary evidence of the observations to go out and
make a very thorough study of the winter plume, and this
^ was done.
But, in the end, the analysis of the facts that
-------
365
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 ; I stated previously during the Illinois hearing that, in
fact, the excess momentum in the Zion plume should not make
the winter conditions a problem there are verified.
5 il MR. McDONALD: Well, since physicists have always
6 i] known "chat water is at a maximum density at 39°» why was
i
7 it necessary to make studies in the winter? Was this a fact
that was just overlooked during your presentation at the
9
10
15
17
20
21
22
23
24
earlier conference?
DR. PRITCHARD: No. The reason it was necessary
i'!
11 i to make studies during the winter is that despite the fact
ij
12 i| — and this is what I tried to emphasize in my testimony —
13 i that despite the fact that the temperature — that from
14 ! the standpoint of the static stability — the plume should
sink in about between 45° to 4o°> it does not sink between
16 | 45° and 46° if it had excess momentum. Even Waukegan,
which is not designed with a high speed discharge, still has
sufficient excess momentum so that it actually cools an
19 |j additional 7° to B° before it sinks. It actually passes
through the region of maximum density before it sinks. It
has the same density as the surrounding water, 7° or 3° above
the point that it sinks.
Now, while the physics of the fact that water in
a condenser has its freezing point at 4° C. and, in fact,
that water has the same density at 32° at a temperature of
-------
366
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
46.5° approximately — while that was well known — I do not
know of any physics at the present time, any theory that
allows us to predict at what excess momentum combined with
the higher density the phenomena will occur* And what is
new here, and the reason we present it is that we now have
some empirical data which allows us to make predictions
about this.
9 MR. McDONALD: Well, let me see if I understand
10 this now.
11 This was the first time now that this data was
12 presented by you publicly, today?
13 DR. PRITCHARD: The data, yes. It is not the
first time that we have talked about the winter plume.
15 MR8 McDONALD: Well, it is the first time you have
talked about the sinking plume in this conference.
DR. PRITCHARD: That is right.
MR. McDONALD: Let me follow that point just a
I
19 little bit.
20 What does the sinking plume mean to you in terms
!
21 of the method of discharge that might be employed by the Zion
O o '
plant in the event a cooling tower is not installed?
DR. PRITCHARD: As I have just said —
2/f MR. McDONALD: At the location of the discharge;
25
the method of discharge.
-------
667
I
2
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
DR. PRITCHARD: The present design of Zion will
provide a discharge in which sinking of or bottoming out and
spreading out of water along the bottom — a condition which
would be unfavorable to rapid mixing — will not occur until
11
6 || the temperature in the worst case — and the worst case is
when the lake is essentially 32° F. ambient condition — will
not occur for temperatures higher than 34° to 35°.
I say that the possibility of the sinking plume at
34° to 35° — I say this is —- on the basis of — both of
10
11
12
13
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
the observation of the fact that during winter there are
natural periods in which bottom temperatures reach this
situation? on the basis of the analysis of the incubation
period as a function of temperature for whitefish eggs, that
this has no biological significance whatsoever, and it does
not exceed 3° above the ambient.
MR. MCDONALD: It does not.
DR. PRITCHARD: Does not.
MR. McDONALD: At the thousand feet.
DR. PRITCHARD: When you say "at the thousand
feet," the Illinois standard is "within an area equal to a
circle having a radius of 1,000 feet." And I might say
this — I was rather surprised at the interpretation of the
thousand foot limit because the worst kind of design is one
that produces a circular dimension.
-------
868
1
2
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
The way to design for minimum impact on the envir-
onment produces an elongated plume with small area. Now, I
can tell you that the area on the bottom at Zion, having
temperatures exceeding 3° F. above ambient in the winter —
I have computed, based upon the evidence we have from
Waukegan, and I might say that during a summer of 70°, there
will be no area having bottom temperatures 3° or greater
above ambient, but during the wintertime when the temperature
is on the order of 33° F,, the area of the lake for the double
plume at Zion — that is twice the area of the single plume —
having temperatures exceeding 3° will be 12,6 acres.
MR. McDONALD: 12.6 acres.
DR. PRITCHARD: I am sorry for giving it that pre-
cisely. I admit I don't know it that precisely. That is
a computed value, but this will approximately be 12 acres*
The surface plume would be approximately — well
— several times that; but the bottom plume would be about
12.6 acres. But I'm almost certain that the bottom plume
would be less than the 72 acres which is the acreage enclosed
by a circle having a radius of 1,000 feet. And I contend
2 that from the standpoint of impact on the environment,
while I question your conviction that there was a great deal
of thought that went into that 1,000 feet, that there is
i
25 i!
' certainly no more and, in fact, because of the time-temperature
-------
869
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
relationship, considerably less potential for damage from
an elongated plume, having larger dimensions in one direction
than 1,000 feet but having no more area than the circle of
5 11 1,000 feet area,
i
6 There has been much talk about the mixing zone and
7 some implication that the mixing zone is a zone where damage
|j
will occur. I resist that definition.
I might say that I have spent my whole life being
10 concerned with protection of the environment. That is my
11 business. And I contend that the mixing zone should not be
i
12 considered a zone at which damage will occur. I define the
13 mixing zone as the zone within which water quality criteria,
i
14 i! based on long-time exposures, do not apply. But water
quality criteria based upon time exposure history do apply,
16
17
IB
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
and that there is no more damage within the mixing zone than
there is outside, and in a properly designed plant that is
zero.
at Zion.
MR. McDONALD: Well, that is not going to happen
DR. PRITCHARD: I see — your legal experience
gives you that
MR. McDONALD: Well, let me — no, your analysis
gave me that.
DR. PRITCHARD: That what? That there would be
-------
870
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 no damage?
3 MR. MCDONALD: Yes.
4 DR. PRITCHARD: That there would be damage?
5 MR. McDONALD: Was I wrong in that?
6 DR. PRITCHARD: You are. I conclude that there
7 will be no damage. No damage.
8 MR. McDONALD: Okay. Let me ask you another
9 question, Dr. Pritchard. And this concerns, again, this
10 question of how much consideration, by way of field studies
11 and data accumulation that you have engaged in beyond the
12 immediate zone *>£ Zion, in coming up with your conclusion.
13 How much beyond the area of Zion have you —
14 DR. PRITCHARD: Well, tne major part of ray work
15 has been done elsewhere.
16 MR. McDONALD: I mean on Lake Michigan.
i
17 | DR. PRITCHARD: I personally have not conducted
1& research on Lake Michigan. I have, however, studied the
I
19 results of the work at Waukegan and served on a consulting
i'
20 group that has come in and tried to direct that work so that
21 it would be as solid scientifically as possible.
22 I might say that that group has not been lenient;
2^ it has been quite critical. It has pushed that work to be
ii
2^ solid, scientific work. I have studied the results from
25
i| the Waukegan study. I have also gone over most of the work
-------
Commonwealth Edison Company
ONE FIRST NATIONAL PLAZA if CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Address Reply to
POST OFFICE BOX 767 * CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60690
October 3, 1972
Mr. Francis T. Mayo, Chairman
Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region V
One North Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Dear Mr. Mayo:
On Thursday, September 21, 1972, I appeared before the
Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference and presented testimony with
respect to costs for alternate cooling systems for Commonwealth
Edison's Zion Generating Station. Following the presentation of
the above testimony, Mr. Carlos Fetterolf of the Michigan Water
Resources Board asked a question of me requiring that I submit
more detail with respect to the $34,105,000 figure appearing on
Exhibit B Line II a. This figure represents the cost of the
loss of capability of the Zion plant when wet mechanical draft
cooling towers are applied as the cooling means in place of
once-through cooling which is proposed. The following explanation
is submitted in answer to Mr. Fetterolf*s question: If wet
mechanical draft cooling towers were applied to the Zion Station
the maximum continuous output of the station would be reduced
for the following three reasons:
1. The backpressure on the turbines would be increased
due to the higher temperature of the water coming
from the cooling towers to condense the steam. For
the two Zion units this reduction in net output
capability is 127,596 kw. Attachment 1 to this
letter contains the turbine performance curves
marked to illustrate the difference in performance
when using Lake Michigan water for cooling vs.
water returned from cooling towers and shows the
method of development of the output loss.
2. Additional pumping power will be required to lift
the circulating water to the cooling towers. This
power requirement, in the plant, reduces the net
plant output power by 21,901 kw.
3. Power will be required to operate the fans on the
cooling towers. This will reduce the net plant
output 9,616 kw.
-------
Mr. Francis T. Mayo Page 2 October 3, 1972
The above losses in net output add to 159,113 kw
directly attributable to modifying the station to utilize
mechanical draft cooling towers. This loss of capacity must be
replaced with nuclear generating capacity at some other location.
We have been very conservative in valuing the replacement
capacity at $207/kw, which is the presently estimated cost of the
Zion capacity. As I testified on September 21, to replace this
capacity in a plant starting today would cost in the order of
$400/kw. Multiplication of the 159,113 kw times $207/kw amounts
to $32,936,000. The investment in additional generating capacity
to replace that lost by the application of mechanical draft
cooling towers will also incur property taxes. The additional
property taxes due to this investment are estimated to amount
to $1,169,000. The sum of the investment cost and property taxes
amount to $34,105,000.
I hope that the above explanation fully answers
Mr. Fetterolf*s question. If it does not, I will be pleased to
hear from you.
Very truly yours.
O. D. Butler
Assistant Vice President
Attachments
cc: Mr. C. Fetterolf
(Michigan Water Resources Com.)
Mr. A. D. Feldman
(Isham, Lincoln & Beale)
-------
ATTACHMENT 1
CALCULATION OF CAPABILITY LOSS
1. From curve A using once through cooling the turbine back
pressure at full load is established to be 2.7 inches of
mercury absolute.
2. From curve B using cooling towers the turbine back pressure
at full load is established to be 5.1 inches of mercury
absolute.
3. a. From curve C the 2.7 inches of mercury absolute back
pressure establishes a load correction of minus 1.8% of
1,129,167 kw design for 1.5 inches of mercury absolute
back pressure, or a load of 1,109,971.
3. b. From curve C the 5.1 inches of mercury absolute back
pressure establishes a load correction of minus 7.35% of
1,129,167 kw design for 1.5 inches of mercury absolute
back pressure, or a load of 1,046,173.
4. The difference between 3a and 3b is 63,798 kw which is the
loss in capability of one unit due to increased back
pressure as a result of installing cooling towers. Total
loss in capability of two units is 127,596 kw.
-------
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-------
871
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
that has been done by Argonne in measurements of plume
dimensions and have even, in fact, used their data in con-
4 firming thermal plume models that are — I might say that
this is not a static field. I consider the thermal plume
modeling as a living science and the models as living models
which change as we add day-to-day more information, and this
8 is being done.
9 1 have spent a great deal of my time in taking
10 data that is collected not only on Lake Michigan but every-
11 where else in the world, and feeding that into the fund of
12 knowledge that has gone into thermal modeling, including
13 work done at MIT and the plume work we do, work on other
14 Great Lakes, the Ghinna plant — I did personally do some
15 work on Lake Ontario in the Ghinna plant, and I have looked
16 at the results of that design as far as the thermal plume
17 goes.
18 MR. McDONALD: No, I wasn't trying to imply that
19 you aren't interested and that you haven't done work else-
20 where. The question that I really was interested in was a
21 question that I raised with several other people, and that
22 is the idea of getting a blueprint that would link all of
23 the powerplants and all of the discharges into some common
2/»- overall monitoring program of the lakes with participation
25 beyond the parochial limits of Zion, Point Beach, where
-------
372
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 these very limited zones that, of necessity, you find your-
3 self involved in*
4 DR. PRITCHARD: I wonder — have you ever read the
5 testimony that I gave at the last conference?
6 MR. McDONALD: I have not read it in its entirety,
7 no*
DR. PRITCHARD: Well, I feel that quite contrary
9 to some of the statements that were made — and I tried to
10 keep my testimony short so I left it out this time — but
I feel that it is a clear statement that the problem is not
12 a lakewide problem, not even in the year 2020, not even
13 when — not when but if you put 10 times the amount of heat
into the lake that you do now.
15 MR. McDONALD: Well, I am aware of that. But the
16 question I am asking is: As a matter of insurance, whether
you are convinced or not — some people feel that it may
be a lake problem—and as a matter of insurance and as a
matter of investment, would it make sense?
20 DR. PRITHCARD: Well, I think that it makes sense
to have a monitoring program which is consistent in obtain-
22 ing necessary data with respect to all plants and with
2^ j respect to the spaces in between them; and it doesn't
01 I
necessarily have to be a centrally controlled program, but
it should be one in which there is a collection of data
-------
7
8
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
20
21
873
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
and a review by some perhaps joint committee involving the
various State agencies, the Federal agencies, and the univer-
sity people who have an interest, and the companies.
I might point out that this is exactly what is being
done in another part of the country, in the Chesapeake Bay.
It involves two States — not as many as you have; it in-
volves a waterway of about the same size — perhaps not
quite the volume, but of certainly more complexity than the
lake — and there is in that region a group called the Clean
Water Study Group. It is comprised of all research institu-
tions and universities engaged in work on powerplant siting
and studies of the effects of thermal discharges in the
Chesapeake Bay area; it comprises representatives from all
Federal agencies concerned, including your own; it comprises
representatives of industry; and all of the data is available
to everyone else. We have subcommittees that compare research
i and designs, that interchange techniques, and propose standard
approaches to the studies. There are coordinated studies
involving company biologists, and State biologists, and
university biologists with no lack of passage of information.
22
I might say it wasn't always that way, and I got
23
J into this business back when there were problems with very
2.L \
great lack of cooperation.
25
But in Maryland I serve the State, and I serve on
-------
S74
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
the various groups that are involved in this kind of research
which in Maryland are supported by the Federal Government
and the State, and I see a great deal of cooperation and
study of the whole system with the intent of ultimately
ending up with a — to be sure that we stay ahead of
the possibility of overloading the system,
B MR. MCDONALD: Thank you.
9 MR. FETTEROLF: A while back — while Dr. Pritchard
10 is still on the stand — I think I can clarify something for
11 you, Jim.
12 The Lake Michigan Technical Committee for the Study
13 of Thermal Discharges pinpointed sinking plumes as a possible
14 problem. As a result of that, Argonne National Laboratory
j
15 established some stations off one of the plumes and did
16 identify the fact that the plume did sink in the wintertime.
17 The Bureau of Sport Fisheries conducted studies
or what an increase in incubation temperature for the over-
wintering eggs of whitefish would result in, in the way of
20 changes to maturation and hatching time.
21 They have shown that shortening of this time or
that increased temperatures would result in a shortening
of this period.
The Palisades Impact Statement included a consid-
eration of sinking plumes. And as a result of this activity,
-------
3
4
375
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
Bio-Test then went out on these 2 days to investigate sinking
plumes.
Now your question is: why did Dr. Pritchard bring
this up? And the reason that he did and that you were
after, he didn't give you, was that he was saying that by a
7 i jet discharge, there was enough horizontal momentum given
to the plume that cooling in the surface waters occurred for
an extended period and allowed the plume to cool down below
the point of maximum density before it sank.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
In other words, if it had been a low velocity dis-
charge, it would have sunk when it was at a temperature of
about 43° or 44° F., but because Zion has a jet discharge,
it didn't sink until it reached 36° or 37° F. I think that
is what his major point was.
DR. PRITCHARD: I agree with the previous lady
that said that they shouldn't hold this conference without
you here. Thank you very much, Carlos.
MR. McDONALD: My concern was that it appeared to
be contradictory to earlier presentations by Commonwealth
Edison, not by your Technical Committee. You are not
representing Commonwealth Edison.
DR. PRITCHARD: Well, it is not contradictory to
earlier testimony because the testimony given earlier dealt
with the type of discharge which is at Zion, which we said
-------
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 there would not be 3° temperature water or any significant
3 above ambient over any significant area involved during any
4 season of the year* We did not specifically discuss the
5 sinking plume problem, but since it has arisen and there have
6 been considerable questions about it, I then went into the
7 analysis and asked that the Waukegan study be done following
this question that was raised in the Technical Committee and
9 also in the Illinois hearings, that we look and see if we
10 could obtain an estimate of the excess momentum still present
11 in the plume at the time that the plume sank.
12 In other words, we went after this information —
13 MR. McDONALD: Okay. I think that answers it.
14 DR. PRITCHARD: — to confirm what we had already
said*
In a very similar way, we made use of the older
model to confirm the things that we had already determined
1° theoretically.
19 MR. MAYO: I have just a brief inquiry, Dr.
20 Pritchard.
On page 9 you make reference to the fact that on
both of the occasions that Bio-Test did its work that there
was a strongly developed sinking plume at the Waukegan
01
power station
25 DR. PRITCHARD: Yes.
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$77
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
MR. MAYO: I gather that if you were looking for a
situation that probably represented the worst kind of an
opportunity or perhaps the best kind of an opportunity for a
sinking plume to develop, it would be in the Waukegan config-
uration for a discharge, where you have low velocities.
7 |j DR. PRITCHARD: Well, Waukegan has a 3 f.p.s.
discharge at these discharge volumes and up to 3.5 f*p.s« at
other times, so that, by chance, because of the nature of the
10 natural reaches of the processes of the fill that have taken
11 place at the discharge ~ at the end of the discharge canal,
12 actually Waukegan is a moderately high-speed discharge not
13 a low speed. There are much lower speed discharges in the
14 | area.
15 MR. MAYO: So that if we did indeed have concern
for the sinking plume and its impact upon organisms, the
17 shoreside configuration for discharge with the Waukegan
range of velocities or less would probably be very desirable
to avoid them.
20 DR. PRITCHARD: Yes. I might say that — I hope
I am authorized to say this — but I know that the State of
22 I
Illinois is requiring that the Commonwealth Edison Company
2*5
J provide plans to bring Waukegan into conformity with the
2.L \
* existing State standards, and the winter plume is under
25
consideration, and I have developed and given to the company
-------
5
6
7
6
10
11
12
13
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
the basis for a design of the change to discharge structure
at Waukegan which I feel will eliminate at Waukegan also the
winter plume, at temperatures higher than 3° above ambient.
MR. MAYO: Thank you.
MR. FETTEROLF: I had one more question.
Dr. Pritchard, you alluded to the fact that a long,
thin plume was more advantageous environmentally than a blob-
type plume. By this, are you inferring that if a regulatory
group places restrictions of an arbitrary nature on a plume
size that it might not always be the most environmentally
benign type of thing that could be done?
DR. PRITCHARD: I am very much — I do that very
much so, in terms of my great concern and my conviction,
and also I think the biological evidence, that the pertinent
biological consequences of the near field involved in the
time-temperature exposure relationship is not specifically
distance from the discharge.
And when one designs a discharge to have a small
time of exposure of an organism either entrained through
the condenser and discharged out into the plume or entrained
22 in the plume — that design will naturally produce an
elongated plume. That is, you are striving towards a high
;
O} I'
Densimetric Froude number and that is an elongated plume.
i
25 i
Now, if you strive for a circular — essentially
-------
379
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
a blob, either through some widespread diffuser pattern, you
are going to essentially have a very much longer exposure of
the organisms entrained into the system, and to temperatures
which may be detrimental. And every organism that has been
studied — and now there are literally hundreds of aquatic
and marine organisms in which measurements have been made of
the stress of a given temperature rise as a function of
time, and it is clear that the temperature tolerance of an
10 organism when exposed to 4# hours, 24 hours, or an hour, is
11 quite different than to 15 minutes, 5 minutes, or 30 seconds,
12 And these are order of magnitude differences, in effect*
13 And I am not just talking about depth, I am talking about
14 the large amount of measurements that have been made on some
15 of the organisms that are pertinent here in the lake —
16 the salmonid fishes, on fish fry — as far as escaping
17 predation — a very solid kind of test in which you take
a group of control, of salmon fry, or salmon fingerlings
19 you have acclimated to some temperature; you take half of
20 them, mark them some way so that you identify them from the
21 control group, and raise their temperature^ keep them at an
22 j elevated temperature until a certain time, and put both
23 groups into a tank of hungry predators$ and after a standard
length of time, catch the predators, catch the remaining
25 control and experimental group and count the number of
-------
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
sao
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
survivors from each group. And this tells you whether or
not thermal shock — which is not observable in any other
way — has, in fact, increased the predation rate.
Such subtle events as this are clearly related to
the time-temperature exposure, and if you design a plume
which is related to a high velocity discharge, you are going
to cut down the time of exposure of such organisms. They
can't stay in the plume; they have got to be carried with
it.
MR. ZAR: I have a brief question.
Dr. Pritchard, do you believe that the 1,2 f.p.s,
velocity is well established at this point, or that perhaps
some sort of Froude number formulas might be utilized? How
much more data would you need in order to handle that now?
DR. PRITCHARD: Well, I think that probably that
I took a somewhat higher number — on one of those examples
it was less than 1 f.p.s. — and if I used a Densimetric
Froude number at that point I would come out with the same
number because we are talking about essentially only slight
differences in the density difference between the 37° and
the 35° water. So the Densimetric Froude number would be
very much the same in the two cases.
So I am just using the velocity essentially as a
measurement. I took 1.2, and in one case it was 0.7. We
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aai
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
didn't observe temperatures above 37° on the bottom.
In the other case, I took 39, which raised the
velocity to 1.17. On the other hand, there was only one
measurement out of 140 bottom measurements which was 39°
5 outside the immediate area of the discharge. So that I
7 really used a rather — I was conservative in just taking
>
a high number. So I think that is reasonably well estab-
lished.
10 MR. ZAR: The calculation you drew for the 2.6° F.
11 temperature in the Zion
12 DR. PRITCHARDi Yes.
MR. ZAR: — plume — was that based on the plume
14 analysis that we saw back in October of 1970, or has there
15 been some more recent plume analysis been done on the lower
16 temperatures, and so on?
17 DR. PRITCHARD: I have — since that time, I say
18 I have what I consider to be a living model and the model
19 has improved, I feel. I have literally 10 times as much data
20 l as I had then on the plumes to confirm the model. The
21 model now includes the Densimetrlc Froude number, includes
22 the prediction of depth thickness, vertical thickness, etc.,
23 and this has been applied to Zion, And I guess — and I
24 might say from some standpoint somewhat gratuitously — the
25 choice of a two-dimensional model, which was used in the
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S82
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 early work, was done because of the lack of complete data
3 on the vertical growth. But it also was conservative in
4 that it eliminated any vertical entrainment. There is
5 evidence that vertical entrainment will take place restricted
6 by the increased density gradient there but that some ver-
7 tical entrainment does take place.
MR. ZAR: Has that work been written up in a form
9 that would be useful to the conferees?
10 DR. PRITCHARDs I am in the process of writing it.
11 I owe it to AEG and to a number of other agencies to get the
12 new thermal model out. But essentially it contains as much
13 of elements of some of the other sophisticated models such as
14 the MIT model, which I think is more consistent with data
15 — even their own — than that model.
16 And i would just say that the results are essen-
tially similar as far as the Zion 3° isotherm.
MR. ZAR: In relation to the thermal bio I'm
in trouble already. I did have several questions, but I
will only ask one.
21 There were a few references noted in the Argonne
22 report, which I presume you have read, some of which seem
to suggest that the thermal bar is indeed inhibiting.
i presume you looked at those references and I
wonder if you could comment just briefly on those.
-------
T Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 DR. PRITCHARD: Well, I have looked at, I think,
3 most of the references on the thermal bar, and I don*t
4 remember precisely the details of those that suggested
5 that it was inhibiting* The ones that I feel are the best
6 ones on these studies have indicated that the thermal bar is
7 a region of vertical convection. It clearly has to be a
8 region of vertical convection* It is not like a thermo-
9 cline if it is a region of maximum density difference or
10 density stability, but it is a region of minimum stability.
11 And you cannot have essentially the creation of water of
12 maximum density without it sinking and causing convective
13 overturn. It is just a physical impossibility.
14 So that — I don't remember the details of the
15 specific statement that suggested this, except the "white
16 paper,11 which I think just misunderstood the physics com-
17 pletely. They have referred to it as a region of stability.
IS which it is not.
19 MR. ZAR: I have some other questions, but I will
20 get you some other time.
21 MR. MAYO: Any questions, gentlemen? Any questions
22 of any of the other Commonwealth Edison representatives?
23 MR. FETTEROLF: I am going to be very brief.
24 Mr. Butler, on page 6 you said your loss of
capacity — generating capacity — the loss is $34 million.
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884
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 Per what, sir?
3 MR. BUTLER: That is $34 million for the entire
4 plant,
5 MR. FETTEROLF: Per what? For the year? For the
6 life of the plant per year, or what?
7 MR. BUTLER: That is a difficult question,
MR. FETTEROLF: Well, if it is a difficult ques-
9 tion, maybe you could answer it in writing, in the interest
10 of time*
11 (Mr, Butler's reply to this question, submitted
12 following the conference, follows in its entirety.)
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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335
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 MR. FETTEROLF: For Dr. McNaught, on page 2, isn't
your finding on the mortality of zooplankton in the raising
4 of those temperatures from different acclimation temperatures
5 something new in the zoological literature?
6 DR. McNAUGHT: As I said, I think we are about a
7 magnitude below some of this weakly supported evidence that
we have heard.
9 MR. FETTEROLF: This does not not conform with
10 Fisheries information on increased temperatures and mortalities
11 of fish over certain time periods.
12 DR. McNAUGHT: But look at the size of organism
13 we are dealing with. I think that this is going to be a
clue.
15 MR. FETTEROLF: This is a new concept, isn't it?
16 And, Dr. Raney — I know you are not bashful,
sir, (Laughter) — very frankly, aren't you considered the
country's leading expert on intake design as far as preclud-
19 ing fish?
20 DR. RANEY: Well, I can only say that I have been
21 interested in it and I think I know all of the methods, and
over the last 5 years I have spent a good many thousands of
dollars trying to improve the kinds of intake structures
24
that we now have.
25
MR. FETTEROLF: This is your reputation as the
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1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 country's leading expert; you are a consultant for Common-
3 wealth. Have you been consulted as far as intake design and
4 problems by other utilities on Lake Michigan?
5 DR. RANEY: Yes, sir.
6 MR. FETTEROLF: And are they following your advice?
7 DR. RANEY: I think in some cases.
g You can't be sure until the structures are built.
9 (Laughter)
10 MR. FETTEROLF: Well, we will look into that.
11 MR. MAYO: I think you were extremely complimentary
12 to Commonwealth Edison, Dr. Raney, when you commented on the
13 fact that at the intake facility for Zion, when they put up
14 nets with 3.-inch mesh and that you felt very confident
I
15 that for any of the organisms, fishes that would pass that
16 1-inch mesh, that Zion was going to find a way that they
17 could gather them up some way and find a way to keep them
13 from going into the intake. When you consider, I think,
19 that the intake is 2,500 feet from shore, I think that is
20 a challenge indeed.
21 DR. RANEY: Yes, it is a challenge. And we back
22 up this challenge by actually doing experimental work in a
23 situation that is much, much worse, and that is off southern
2/* California where we have similar intakes, and where millions
25 I of fish actually are brought in. And after about a year's
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as?
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 hard work with experimental plumes, we have reached the point
3 where we can make recommendations, and we are confident that
4 we are going to be able to cut those mortalities by 99.9
5 percent.
6 MR. FRANCOS: Could I ask a question?
7 Is there any way that you can generalize, on the
basis of the reports that we have had of these large kills
9 at intake structures, the primary cause?
10 DR. RANEY: Yes. There are — basically, due to
11 originally poor design, where you have vertical trapping
12 screens located in the far end of an intake canal, what
13 happens: Fish get in there and they turn and face the cur-
14 rent; they swim sometimes for weeks until they get tired,
15 and they come up on the screen and go into the bins.
16 Now we worked out a system that we can put into
17 these situations. It is what we call a Murphey basket lift,
and what this basket does is sweeps up in advance of the
stream, dips gently — just like pouring water out of a
20 pitcher — into a sluice. This sluice then goes back into
21 the lake or the sea. So that there are lifts available or
sluices where the original design was bad.
MR. FRANCOS: Thank you.
2L
MR. ZAR: May I ask a question of Dr. McNaught?
25
As to your Figure 1 which includes some 1972
-------
aaa
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison .Testimony
2 zooplankton data, as I understand Dr. McNaught's answer to a
3 question we asked earlier about the data availability, much
4 of this data has not yet been made available, and a number
5 of our scientists have indicated an interest in getting it.
6 DR. McNAUGHTj To be truthful, I stole that figure
7 from a Bio-Test report, so I think it is on the way.
8 MR. ZAR: The second thing, on page 4 you referred
9 to upper lethal temperatures, but you don't indicate what
10 they are or what you found them to be for those organisms
11 or whether you have actually done that.
12 DR. McNAUGHT: Yes, that was by personal communica-
13 tion with some of the Bio-Test people. They told me that
14 they were much higher than some of the work that had been
I
15 done in the Mihurski group, and I have not seen the data
16 report yet. I only have it by personal communication.
17 MR. ZAR: So you donft know if the numbers are —
DR. McNAUGHTs I don't think it would be fair to
put the numbers in the record at this time until I have a
20 chance to personally examine the data report.
21 MR. zAR: Then there are two other questions that
22 I have been asked to put to you. One is: Can you place an
importance on the killing of a million pounds of zooplankton,
or 500,000 pounds or 2 million pounds, or whatever?
25 DJJ. McNAUGHT: That is a difficult question. I
-------
1 Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
2 think that, as Mr. McDonald has repeatedly stated tonight,
3 we should place this in a total ecosystem context,
4 Now, we are talking about 7 percent of the stand-
5 ing crop passing through the condensers. This is not, of
6 course, the total lake standing crop; this is the portion
7 of the standing crop that passes through the condenser,
8 And it is my feeling, from my own personal studies on the
9 Great Lakes, that these subpopulations, as you will have it,
10 that suffer this mortality, will very rapidly come back to
11 carrying capacity once they are back in the open lake again,
12 Detailed studies in the future in the plume areas will tell
13 us where this return in carrying capacity indeed will
14 occur,
15 MR, ZAR: Have you looked at the Bio-Test data
16 with respect to zooplankton or does your work on Lake
17 Ontario give you a feel for this?
IS DR. McNAUGHT: I was referring passively to my
19 work on Lake Ontario. I think when the animals first come
20 back into the plume that they probably overshoot to a slight
21 degree the carrying capacity that they once held. The plume
22 is going to make up for this condenser mortality*
MR. ZARs I have one last question. Comparison
was drawn between Waukegan and Zion. What was done was
that Waukegan condensers that were used were unusually high
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390
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
15
20
21
22
23
2/f
25
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
T's?
DR. McNAUGHT: Right.
MR. ZAR: Because of the longer intake and the
different plumbing that is in the Zion system, would there
be any differences expected as to mechanical damage that woulc
occur? I am thinking in part of the Grosse lie in the EPA
report which seemed to indicate some additional effects at the
Big Rock plant.
DR. McNAUGHT: I can't remember the data to bear
out the mechanical damage. I can say that I think that the
Waukegan experiment was unusually conservative and severe
because the organisms were exposed to something like 5
minutes instead of 3 minutes as they were exposed to at
Zion. Timing is so extremely important in the shortshot,
I think the Waukegan data for heat are conservative. As far
as the types of banging around that we get in the two plants
I can't say at this time.
MR. FETTEROLF: As a last thing, I have got to
even the score up just a little.
This morning I chided the U.S. Bureau of Sport
Fisheries a little bit for not including all of Marcy's
information on the significance of those fish kills.
Dr. Raney, when you discussed Dr. Coutant's work
on the Columbia River, you said that the heated effluent
-------
Discussion - Commonwealth Edison Testimony
produced no direct or latent mortalities, but the real signi-
ficance of his work was that he showed that these fish were
in thermal shock and they were much more subject to predation,
5 and that there were losses due to predation by squaw fish in
6 that river. Isn't that correct?
7 DR. RANEY: les. And these losses were, in my
opinion, insignificant,
9 MR. FETTEROLF: Now we are even. Thank you.
10 MR. MAYO: Is there any more to the Illinois
11 presentation?
12 MR. CURRIE: Let me ask the audience.
13 Are there other persons from Illinois who would
14 like to be heard at this time? I see two hands. Mr.
15 Muchmore first, and then the gentleman in the back, Dr.
16 Gustafson.
17 MR. MAYO: These two gentlemen should receive
medals.
MR. FELDMAN: I might thank you and your conferees,
20 Mr. Mayo, for having sat through this rather long thing. We
are not apologizing for having done it, but we do appreciate
22 your willingness to hear it.
MR. MAYO: Well, there is no need for you to
^ apologize, the invitation was there.
25
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391
C. Muchmore
2
3 STATEMENT OF CHARLES MUCHMORE, P.E.,
4 MEMBER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THERMAL
5 AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING,
6 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY,
7 CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS
3
9 MR. MUCHMORE: Chairman Mayo, conferees, ladies
10 and gentlemen. I will make this very brief* I know the
11 hour is late.
12 I am Charles B. Muchmore, a member of the Depart-
13 ment of Thermal and Environmental Engineering at Southern
14 Illinois University, Carbondale, and currently I am Chairman
15 of the Environmental Quality Committee of the Illinois
Society of Professional Engineers, who I am representing
17 here today.
I am here to reemphasize the position of the
Illinois Society with respect to the threat of thermal
20 pollution to Lake Michigan
21 In April of 1970, the Society proclaimed its
22 position on this issue* Reexamination of subsequent data
and events has not altered the Society's basic position on
this very important environmental matter.
i would like to quote, therefore, from an ISPE
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392
1 C, Muchmore
2 statement issued 2 and a half years ago that we feel ade-
3 quately expresses our concern and recommendations concerning
4 the current and future development of Lake Michigan as a
5 valuable and irreplaceable natural resource for recreational
6 as well as power supply needs,
7 "The Great Lakes are an important natural resource
that provide great benefits to the people of this region,
9 These benefits are both industrial and recreational. One of
10 the important industrial uses of the water in the lakes is
11 to provide the cooling required in the generation of elec-
12 trie power. Electric power is extremely important to all of
13 us and our need for power is increasing at a tremendous rate,
14 "The Illinois Society of Professional Engineers
15 shares in the public concern for the well-being of the lake,
16 However, we believe that the current standards set up and
17 administered by the Illinois Pollution Control Board provide
adequate protection. These are responsible standards that
provide for the greatest benefits to all without impairing
20 the long-term recreational use of the lake. Actually we
21 know a great deal about the assimilation and dissipation of
22 heat in the lake. We, as engineers, can and will design
the facilities that will make it possible to use Lake
Michigan without damaging it. Our health, safety, and
welfare require that we continue with construction of
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. 393
1 C, Muchmore
2 powerplants. Some of these have to be on Lake Michigan. We
3 should proceed cautiously but we should and must proceed
4 now.M
5 As I say, this statement is essentially the stand
6 made 2 and a half years ago.
7 Of major concern to the Illinois Society of
Professional Engineers, which represents over 5»000 regis-
9 tered engineers from varied areas of employment — private
10 practice, industry, government, and education — is that
11 actions taken to cope with potential environmental dangers
12 be kept in perspective. First, let us review some basic
13 facts.
14 It has been pointed out in previous hearings that
15 the thermal pollution danger to Lake Michigan is not one of
16 significantly increasing the average temperature of the
17 lake. Straightforward calculations assuming complete mixing
and adiabatic conditions indicate that heat loads projected
19 to 19#0 would result, over a year's operation, in a temper-
20 ature increase of less than 0.1° F. The potential danger
due to thermal pollution is, therefore, definitely local
22 in character. I think this has been well documented.
The extent and nature of thermal effects on aquatic
^ biota is not fully understood. As additional knowledge is
gained, changes in recommended methods of discharge and
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S94
1 C, Muchmore
2 areas of mixing zones may well be justified. Consideration
3 must always be given, of course, to the trade-off between
4 increased heat dissipation to a lower temperature atmosphere
5 by maintaining a smaller, higher temperature mixing zone,
6 compared to environmental effects in a lower temperature,
7 larger one,
g Comparison of the anticipated or unknown results
9 of the following two alternatives to continued and expanded
10 use of Lake Michigan as a cooling source results in the fol-
11 lowing conclusions:
12 Alternative 1: Prohibit powerplant construction
13 at the lake. The obvious needs for greater power production
14 to match future needs does not make this an attractive
15 alternative,
16 Alternative 2: Require cooling tower construction
17 to satisfy heat dissipation needs. The uncertain environ-
13 mental impact of cooling towers does not at this time justify
19 the expense of their substitution for the lake as a heat
20 sink,
21 Thus, we do not feel that the above alternatives to
22 use Of Lake Michigan as a cooling source are acceptable
23 solutions to the problem. We advocate continued use of the
2^ lake for this purpose, and encourage more extensive studies
25 ^0 determine significant effects on the aquatic biota, Shoulc
-------
895
C. Muchmore
current and future studies clearly demonstrate undesirable
thermal effects to a significant extent, backfitting of
cooling towers to existing power generating stations would
be possible.
It is likely that aquatic environmental effects due
to slight temperature changes would be relatively reversible
in nature, compared to those resulting from chemical contam-
ination. Overemphasizing potential harmful effects of thermal
pollution may tend to diminish our efforts on preventing de-
terioration of the lake quality as a result of other pollu-
tional sources, an inherently more irreversible danger to
future generations' enjoyment of Lake Michigan waters.
And to point out specifically here, I think we
could draw upon yesterday's comments concerning phosphate.
I believe the economic picture came into view very clearly
there, and I think that we all recognized that whether we
paid for our environmental improvements through local taxes,
the water bill, higher utility rates — one way or another —
there is, of course, an upper limit to what our economy can
stand.
I believe yesterday the conferees arrived at a
ballpark figure of about a tenth of a cent per capita per
day as the incremental cost to enable us to attain that
1 mg/1 phosphorus standard compared to the 2 mg/1. I
believe this figure is about in the ballpark of the
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396
± C. Muchmore
2 additional incremental costs that we are talking on a per
j capita basis if we talk putting in cooling towers rather
4 than using straight-through cooling of the lake on the cur-
5 rent installations. And perhaps someone from the industry
6 could clarify this. I think they are in the same ballpark.
7 In other words, I think we have to look carefully
# here at what has to be done and where the money can be spent
9 that will have the greatest impact on the lake. And from
10 our point of view, the case for phosphorus is a lot more
11 clearly interpreted, better documented, than is the thermal
12 question at this point.
13 I thank you.
14 MR. McDONALD: Mr. Muchmore.
15 MR. MUCHMORE: Yes.
16 MR. McDONALD: On that tenth of a cent added
17 cost for cooling towers, I wouldn't expect you to develop
this now, but I would be very interested in having you
submit this, on how you arrived at your calculation.
20 MR. MUCHMORE: Well, we could rough it out here.
21 Could we take a 3 percent —
22 MR. FETTEROLF: How about submitting it in writing?
MR. McDONALD: I'd rather not. But that tenth of
* a cent is a very interesting —
MR. MUCHMORE: My off-the-top-of-the-head guess is
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C. Muchmore
2 that is probably low. But I think it is in the same ballpark
3 as the number you were talking about with regard to phosphorus
4 yesterday, I think they are comparable costs,
5 MR. McDONALD: See if you can refine it a little
6 and maybe you can send it in to us,
7 MR, MUCHMORE: Surely.
8 MR. McDONALD: Thank you,
9 (Mr, Muchmore 's submission following the confer-
10 ence follows in its entirety,)
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY • STATE OF ILLINOIS
William L. Blaser, Director • Richard B. Ogilvie, Governor
Please reply to:
2121 West Taylor Street
Chicago, Illinois 60612
Phone 312 793-3730
Four State Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference
October 2, 1972
Francis T. Mayo,
Regional Administrator
USEPA
1 North Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Dear Mr. Mayo:
During the recent session of the Four State Lake Michigan Enforcement
Conference, Charles B. Muchmore representing the Illinois Society of
Professional Engineers made some statements concerning the thermal standards
for Lake Michigan. In his statement he related to per capita costs asso-
ciated with the requirement of backfitting of cooling towers for existing
power plants on Lake Michigan. He has submitted a letter dated September
28, 1972 including some data to substantiate his comments. I am including
six copies of his documents and request that it be included in the record
of these proceedings and if you deem necessary, forward it on to the other
conferees.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Very truly yours,
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Carl T. Blomgren, Mana
Standards Section, DWPC
CTB:dk
Enclosure
2200 Churchill Road • Springfield, Illinois 62706 • Telephone: 217-525-3397
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Southern Illinois
University
CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS 62QOI
School of Engineering and Technology
DEPARTMENT OF THERMAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
September 28, 1972
Conferees, Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference
September 19-21, 1972
Gentlemen:
Enclosed find the information requested by Mr. James 0. McDonald concerning
the estimated economic impact, on a per capita basis, associated with the
requirement that backfitting of cooling towers be required for existing
power plants on Lake Michigan.
I did obtain a more accurate figure on current per capita electric service
expenditures (I used my own electric bill for an approximation at the tine
of my statement at the Conference) by contacting Mr. Joseph McCluskey,
Director of Environmental Affairs for Commonwealth Edison. The calculated
result is not significantly different from the order of magnitude estimate
that I stated at the Conference,
I hope this clarifies the intent and basis for my statement at the Conference.
At the time of my testimony, the hour was late and detailed discussion at
that time seemed inappropriate.
Yours truly,
Charles B, Muchmore, PJE.
CEM/dk
cc: Mr. J. McCluskey, Director of Environmental Affairs
Commonwealth Edison
Mr, W. Dart, Executive Director, Illinois Society of Professional Engineers
-------
Supplemental Testimony at Lake Michigan
Enforcement Conference, September 19-21, 1972
by Charles B. Muchmore, P.E.,
Chairman of the Environmental Quality Committee
of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers
My comments following presentation of my written statement were
intended to emphasize our concern that in setting regulations governing
the use of Lake Michigan water, full recognition be given to the relative
costs involved and potential benefits to be gained.
At the Conference the previous day, the question of additional cost
associated with attaining a 1 mg/1 phosphate effluent standard, rather
than the previously suggested figure of 2 mg/1, was discussed. An approx-
imate figure of 0.1<£/capita-day was mentioned. Computed on a similar
basis, the cost associated with backfitting cooling towers to existing
power plants on Lake Michigan gives a figure of 0.34
-------
-2-
or new technology dictate that the removal of phosphorus by precipitation
techniques is no longer justified, there would be no problem in changing
the requirement. Not so with cooling towers. The financial committment
resulting from a requirement to back-fit cooling towers is a long term one.
-------
-3-
CALCULATION:
Basis:
Average annual residential billing,
Commonwealth Edison, 1971
(Source: Telephone conversation 9/22/72
with Mr. J. McCluskey, Director of
Environmental Affairs, Commonwealth
Edison)
Cost of backfitting with an evaporative
tower system:
(Source: Mr. Tichenor's testimony
given at the three state hearings, as
reported in Summary of Recent Technical
Information Concerning Thermal Discharges
Into Lake Michigan, Argonne National
Laboratory, U.sT EPA Contract Report 72-1,
p. 105)
$159.00
Nominally a 33 residential
rate increase
Assuming an average family size of 4 (perhaps a bit optimistic for the
future, but current reports are encouraging) , the average per capita
daily billing is
Applying the 3% increase that would result from backf itting cooling
towers gives a daily per capita increase of
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$93
C. Muchmore
2 MR. MAYO: Mr. Currie.
3 MR. CURRIE: Dr. Gustafson.
4 While he is coming up, I have written statements
5 I have been asked to have entered into the record as if
6 read. They are from Paul R. Harrison, from Ann Ghellman,
7 from Mrs. Catherine T. Quigg, from Dr. James E. Carson, and
from Arthur Pancoe.
9 (The documents above referred to follow in their
10 entirety.)
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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Statement Before the Atomic Energy Commission Hearing on
Effects of Thermal Discharge on Lake Michigan
September 19, 1972
Gentlemen:
The purpose of the Chicago Technical Society Council Ecological
and Environmental Committee at this hearing is' to attempt to provide
objective criticism of the past, present and future assessments of the
effect of thermal discharges on Lake Michigan and surrounding environs.
It is obviously difficult to predict with certainty the effect
of these new, large energy inputs into the local biosphere when they
have not occurred under like conditions at any other location. However,
it is not difficult to say that there wijlj^ be ecological effects for
certain-no matter how or where this massive amount of energy is released
in such small physical scales. The basic concept of entropy states that
there is a minimum amount of energy that can be recovered in any energy
conversion process. It must be, at the very least, the primary resolve
of any controlling agency to minimize any excess above this basic physical
principle. Conversion of nuclear energy into steam energy, and finally
into electrical energy, and the transportation of that electrical energy
to inefficient electrical devices does not in any way maximize energy use.
This is especially true when one sees that the majority of the steam energy
is wasted by cooling by large amounts of water and then this excess energy
dumped into a small area creating sure changes in the local ecology. There
have been many arguments brought forth concerning the use of atomic power
plants, dumping of waste energy (which we do not consider useless), and
subsequently using that electricity in extremely inefficient ways. We feel
-------
2.
that this Committee cannot ignore this inefficiency because the subject of
today's discussion is a prime example of that inefficiency and lack of
creative ability and resolve to use this thermal energy in a productive way.
We are reminded of the Ruler in Adu Duabi in the Middle East who spent
millions of dollars, indeed billions of dollars, in securing atomic power
plants, not for the sake of creating electricity, but to use the heat and
the steam process in an atomic power plant to create pure water and to
create heated water for irrigation in large areas of greenhouses in order
to produce fruit year-around. In other words, a creative use of what is
considered in our country as waste heat. It is apparent that the primary
£>,.'*. >''
concern of the power company and AEC has been the production of power
A
rather than the efficient use of energy. Likewise, it requires creativity
and larger assessments of the total problem, which seemingly, bewilders
both the Atomic Energy Commission and the American Power Company con-
sortiums. The remaining possible reason for this lack of concern could be
that they truly do not care about the environment. But, as a modern day
Will Rogers, I only know what I see on television. These advertisements
tell me that the electric companies do, indeed, care about our "total en-
vironment".
Assuming we are stuck with this "waste" energy, why is it then
that the controversy still reigns as to the environmental impact of these
monsterous energy generators?
In our opinion, the causes can be summed up in that there is a
lack of basic foundation to make proper decisions. As is the case in most
ecological problems currently in vogue, there are many computer massagers
and modelers who take very questionable data, take data out of context, and
mis-apply basic concepts so that the final result after much computation
-------
3.
and brilliance in mathematics come out with a very nice conclusion which
"remains to be shown". The record shows that this is the past case and also
the present case.
Gentlemen, it is very difficult to make decisions using models
based upon scant and inadequate, and in some cases, incompetent data.
To be creative, we would like to highly recommend that a thorough oceanographic
study be undertaken and properly reviewed before a license is given for the
building, let alone the operation of these power producers. This study
should be intra-disciplinary in nature and consider the following:
1. Models should fit field data - not the data - the model
wborovor ^hJrB-Hbg-tte^eissaiy ami/in UegrrabJbe..
2.a) Can a model be fitted to all important variables?
b) What are the important variables?
c) To what extent do variables interact to produce auto-
matically what may be best described as a complex polynomial?
d) How valid are simplistic models compared to the higher
order reactions which may actually occur?
e) If any one site data must be modeled specifically for
that site - is it best to construct a limited model or obtain
definitive data for each site? We think each site is unique.
Some variables that need to be adequately monitored concerning
thermal plume are:
1. Geology
a) Bed rock
b) Sedimentation
c) Geologic processes (Chem. & phys.) e.g., Analytical reaction
with heat, acids, etc. Current rate and
carrying capacity.
d) Ground water inflow (hydrology)
-------
4.
Bathymetry
a) Geomorphology
2. Geochemistry
e.g. Carbonate balance; reaction rates
3. Climatology
a) Heat and vapor affects on the local environment
b) Winds and currents
c) Pressure systems
4. Biology ( per se and in response to water quality)
a) Phyto and zooplankton within and beyond the thermal plume
b) Speciation of fish (birds)
c) Effects on N. S. & C. cycles - as heat input may in-
fluence microflora present
d) Biochemistry of water relative to biota present
5. Engineering
a) Design of site in accord with the above
b) Physical, thermal and pressure shock characteristics on biota
6. Monitoring of plant effluents on the environment
Some of the above parameters are already considered but are not
measured adequately or given proper weight in decision making.
It is obvious that the local current measurements are entirely
inadequate. In fact, many of the assumptions as to current directions are
completely wrong. I point to the Michigan City breakwater and the Traverse
City situations as primary examples on Lake Michigan. These current studies
must be conducted over six months at the minimum and a year or more, as
desirable.
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5.
We cannot understand, or at all agree, with the statement that
geological measurements are not necessary. I point to outfall erosion
problems and other geo-chemical considerations carving away at other
locations on Lake Michigan, both nuclear and fossil fuel plants.
Much of the lake shore has not been properly mapped in order to
show before and after situations due to the discharge of water, let alone
its temperature considerations. It has been shown by Miss Edith McKee
that a detailed one-foot interval map of the lake bottom within a few miles
of an outfall can adequately describe much of the currents. Laminar and
turbulent flows are easily discerned in these mappings.
A study should be made of the chemistry of the water and the
effect of the reactor on the chemical equlibrium which has been established.
We must determine the interaction between the various parameters
measured.
The above parameters are the ones which seem of current concern.
However, as in the case of all dynamic problems, the parameters being
assessed must be continuously reviewed and may change with time.
It is required that two years of climatological data be made
before a license is granted to atomic power plants. We ask simply, - why
not an equal amount of time for oceanographic studies (or oceanographic
climatology, if you will) to be conducted for two years prior to issuance
of a license? To our knowledge, these types of studies have been only in
a peripheral and cursory manner. I am sure none of the persons in this room
would like to live next to a reactor in which the safety research was done
in a similar inadequate manner.
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6.
All of the above considerations and suggestions are not at all
prohibitively expensive, especially considering the back fitting and
possible future damages and reparations that may be necessary due to the
fact that these studies were not made.
It is our recommendation that adequate studies be made as soon
as possible of the above parameters, as well as those currently under study.
It is recommended that no new facilities be built until new
guidelines and adequate basic, physical s'tudies are made in order to obtain
adequate input data to these sophisticated models. Without this basic data
they are full of brilliant sound and fury and signify nothing, or at the
best, signify the wrong decisions, which are not only dangerous to the
health and well being of Lake Michigan, but our own enjoyment and
guarantee of adequate fresh water supplies for other activities, both
recreational and industrial.
If Lake Michigan, or any other lake, be it large or small, turns
into a eutrophlcated cess pool other industries and users of this large
heat sink will be severely restricted and will pay a dear price, as well
as the civilian sector.
Gentlemen, in summation, it is our opinion that the following
basic criticisms can be made:
(1) Proper use of energy is not and will not be a reality until
a re-assessment of the basic thinking of the Atomic Energy Commission comes
about so that they may assess the entire enrgy cycle of nuclear reactors
and the energy produced from them.
(2) There is much too much reliance upon computer modeling
without obtaining basic physical measurements.
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7.
We would humbly recommend that those who earn their living or
supplement as the case may be, by consulting with both your agency and/or
the utilities, should obtain more detailed and more pertinent physical
measurements in the field and get their "tail feathers wet" in order to
make these models and mathematical gyrations more meaningful. We would
suggest that they spend as much time in the field as they do on the models
and the amount of time on the models as they would usually spend in the
field. I think that all of us would be much more capable of making good
decisions and designs by the proper use of this "waste energy" dumped in
our increasingly fragile environment.
Thank you for your attention.
Paul R. Harrison, Ph.D.
Chairman
Ecology and Environmental Comm.
Chicago Technical Society Council
PRH:hsl
9/20/72
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Lake Michigan is the single major natural resource in the Chicago area.
One of the basic attributes of the lake is its large volumn of relatively
cold water and its attendant populations of cold water flora and fauna.
Ecologists consider temperature the primary control of life on earth and
fish, which are unable to regulate their body temperature, are particularly
sensitive to changes in the thermal environment.
Elevated water temperatures present a real threat to the aquatic ecosystem
of the lake. Temperature levels that fall short of lethal, but may be
considered unfavorable, can aversely affect the animals1 metabolism, feed-
ing, growth^and reproduction. Even though a single game-fish species may
be able to adapt to the temperature variations, the food chain envolving
smaller fish, invertebrates, plants and dissolved nutrients is more sen-
sitive. Any environmental change that seriously affects the proliferation
of any link in the chain can affect the harvest of game fish.
Thermal discharges add stress to the lake already polluted by chemical
wastes of shoreline industries. The capacity of water to carry dissolved
oxygen necessary to support useful forms of aquatic life diminishes as
temperature rises. Higher temperatures cause reduced solubility of
oxygen and, if this is combined with an organic load, the temperature
increase will unbalance a mixed algae population to blue green algae,
the species found in organic or chemical pollution.
Because of the rate of increase projected for future electric power pro-
duction, we cannot continue to add waste to the environment in the form
of heat. We must cure the disease rather than treat the symptoms, by re-
ducing heat pollution at it's source.
Ann Chellman
136 S. Hickory St.
Palatine, Illinois 6006?
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&
NViRGNMENTAL
LAKE MICHIGAN ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE
SEPTEMBER 20, 1972
St«t«m«nt
49 SOi,T.-i GR.atY SIKEIT
^£, iUtNOIS 60067
CAj?NO,V MD
s • to . . -f M - one
!0 , noit Allot ley
,ronrr,en>al Quality
Mrs. Catherine T. Qj.ig£
Vic* Prssidaat
& Environmental Problems
H»w many of you nro awaro that C«mrnonw«altk Edi
is "c«nc«rnod for your total «nvlronm«nt"? Haw
much do you think it coats Common wo a 1th Edison «vcry
yoar to got th» t mossago across to tko public...
on toloviaion. . .in nowsp«]»*rs. . .mar*zin«
ov«n on cardboard lifhtbulb holdors. It must
»o millions.1
Wo tklnk that Commonwoalth Edison would apond
that mtn«y on ooollng t«w«ra at tfcio Zien
if thoy woro roally eonsornod for our total
onvironm«nt.
»lso but an onormeusly woadthy company-"-aid«d
anr. ^oatcod by th« Atomio Energy Cammission--
would K»vo tho gall to uao our valualsla Lako
Michigan as a daily wasto dump far ©illions ©f
gallons of hoatod water ...and then t«ll us it's
protoctiȣ our onvironment?
¥lso but a combiMio liko this coulci supply
this and ovory othor oavironmflntal oonf«r«r.c
with sciontists, lawyors and PR mon ox tolling
its / -two*.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION THROUGH EDUCATION
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-2-
It 's net easy for scientists or citizens to fight the
political-utility nuclear power claque. Wo don't have
their power — or money. It could make a big difference
in getting; the message to tko public -- that tkolr lake
will die from tho kiad of ooncor» it's jotting from
CommonwoAltk Edison,
How will wo know wkoa our l«ko is dying from tkermal
pollution? Wo will know.
Its fish will dio from t«mporaturo lethality...not iranodiatoly
but eventually. Because wo see fisk in keatod discharges
does net mean tkese effluents are «iesira»lo for tkat
species. Many organisms, including man, ara at times
and under certain oondititns attracted to environments
that are clearly not optimal, A critical look at the fisk
found near effluents frequently skews tkat these dense
populations are not of desirable game species lout are less
desirable, rough fisk species.
Wo will know our lake is dying of thermal pollution when
wo go fishing and eatck a string of algae instead of fish.
We'll know when we see windrows of rotting; algaes on our
shorelines and >j«ach«s.
By the green in our drinking water--we will know. Wo '11
add BIO re chlorine to our water to control the bacteria and
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-3-
slime. And then we'll knew by the unpleasantness of drinking
highly chlorinated watar,
We will find fish mysteriously dead on our shores. And seme
will know that thoy have died from toxicity. Bocauso they know
that tho toxicity of most mateii «ls -- whether pesticides, solvents,
h«avy metals, er others -- increases at higher temperatures,
Watar quality criteria can be determined for materials toxie
to aquatic life under desirable temperatures, but when
temperatures are elevated above optimum, toxicity is increased
and these criteria may no longer protect aquatic life.
Yes, by these and other signs, we will know when our lako
is dying.
I say -- kill our lake if you nrast -- because you can afford
to convince most of us that you "mean well." But please don't
add insult to injury tey making us listen to the constant
rendition of "Commonwealth. Bdison -- concern for your total
environment,"
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Reprint from Annual report ot the
Radiological Phy»ic» Division for 1971,
M O U
AHL-7860 Part III» August 1972
THE ATMOSPHERIC CONSEQUENCES OF THERMAL DISCHARGES
FROM POWER GENERATING STATIONS
James E. Carson
Concern for the biological and ecological effects of heated water
has resulted in legal actions that will prevent power companies from dumping
the waste heat from the majority of their new generating units into rivers
and lakes. Many nuclear- and fossil-fueled plants now under construction,
and even some now on-line, are being required to change from once-through
cooling systems to other methods, such as wet cooling towers, cooling
ponds and spray canals, despite higher costs and lower themal efficiencies.
Yet, these alternate cooling procedures are not without their own environ-
mental problems.
The primary weather change due to once-through cooling on a large
water body is a local increase in fogginess at the plant outfall. But the
relative probability of significant local meteorological effects is much higher
with alternate cooling procedures, since these reduce the area of heat and
moisture transfer. It is, therefore, concluded that, from a meteorological
point of view, the least undesirable way to dispose of waste heat is by
using once-through cooling on large water bodies.
Introduction
The peak demand for electrical power in the United States is increasing
at a rate of 7% per year. This increase is due both to increasing popula-
tion and to increasing per capita consumption. According to the Federal
Power Commission, the installed capacity in 1970 was about 340,000 MW,
while the estimated requirement for 1990 will be 1,260,000 MW. Almost
all of the new capacity will consist of thermal (steam) units, both nuclear-
and fossil-fueled, with marked trends toward larger capacity units and more
units on a given site. Despite their lower thermal efficiencies, an increas-
ing fraction of the new plants will be nuclear, this choice being made in
part to reduce emissions of atmospheric pollutants such as fly ash and
sulfur dioxide.
Large quantities of reject heat are not unique to nuclear electrical
generating stations since all heat engines release heat to the environment.
In other words, what is frequently called "waste heat" is really a necessary
part of the energy conversion process.
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251
Almost all of the energy produced by electrical power stations, both
the waste heat and the useful power generated, is eventually dissipated to
the atmosphere. In this paper the potential meteorological effects of the
waste heat are explored. While studies of the effect of thermal discharges
on the atmosphere are relevant to all types of power generation, they are
particularly significant to water-cooled nuclear power plants which produce
40 to 50% more waste heat per unit of electricity than modern fossil-fueled
plants. Part of the difference in cooling requirements is caused by the loss
of heat up the chimney in conventional power plants (10 to 12% of the total)«,
It should be noted that most fossil-fueled plants now on-line operate at
efficiencies comparable to those of the new nuclear plants.
Utilities use large amounts of water to cool the condensers in the
plants; the cooler this water is, the more efficient the process will be.
Until recently, most plants used once-through cooling, drawing water from
lakes, rivers, or the ocean, heating it 10° to 25° F as it passes through
the plant, and returning it to the source. Because of concern for both the
effects of increased temperatures on the biota of the receiving water body
and shortages of cooling water, many power generating stations now under
construction will use cooling towers or cooling ponds to dissipate much of
the heat to the atmosphere before recycling the cooling water or returning it
to the source. Lower costs of operation and installation dictate the use of
"wet" or evaporative supplemental cooling systems except in areas of very
limited water supplies.
The state of the art is such that meteorologists are not able to pre-
dict quantitatively how the atmosphere will react to the large amounts of
heat energy and water vapor that it will be forced to absorb as the result of
the disposal of waste heat from power plants. Conceivably, critical heat
release rates may exist for particularly sensitive sites which, when exceeded,
may lead to significant meteorological effects, such as the generation of
thunderstorms in convectively unstable, subtropical conditions.
To date only a limited number of research and field studies on the
atmospheric aspects of thermal pollution have been conducted and reported
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252
in the literature. Published papers include those of Aynsley, Stockham,
Overcamp and Hoult, Decker, Colbaugh et al. , Huff et al. ,
Hosier/ Hanna and Swisher, EG & G, Altomare, 2' and Carson/13^
Most reports dealing with thermal discharges into rivers, ponds, lakes, or
from cooling towers , indicate that changes in weather near the outfall might
occur, but few contain data to support or quantify this conclusion.
As a result of the National Environmental Protection Act, utilities are
now required to file statements anticipating the environmental impact of their
new plants, including the atmospheric effects of their proposed cooling
systems. Most of these statements have been prepared by meteorological
consultants, and many include forecasts of the frequency of plant-induced
fogs and icing. Unfortunately, the majority of these analyses have not been
made part of the public record and, therefore, are not available for quotation.
One of several reports that have' k§en ma'de public is a study of possible cool-
ing tower plume effects at the Zion (Illinois) Nuclear Generating Station by
McVehil.(14)
In September, 1971, the National Science Foundation sponsored a
workshop to prepare a list of the areas of ignorance in the field of environ-
mental aspects of thermal discharges from large sources and to suggest
research projects to improve our knowledge. This conference covered
many topics in addition to the atmospheric aspects of wast heat discharges,
One-through Cooling on a Large Lake
An important problem in mid-western U.S. concerns the possible
atmospheric effects of waste heat discharged from nuclear power plants
around Lake Michigan. Two fossil-fueled plants (capacity 616 MWe) and
five nuclear units (6,732 MWe) are now being installed along the shores of
Lake Michigan. These units are scheduled to be operational in 1974;
the total power plant load will then be 15,625 MWe. Originally, each of
these units was designed for once-through cooling; but recent actions of
regulating agencies will force most, if not all, of the new plants to use
other cooling techniques, such as cooling towers.
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Except for a small amount advected through the Straits oi A/Iackinac
into Lake Huron, all of the power plant waste heat discharged into the lake
will eventually enter the atmosphere through radiation, evaporation, and
conduction from the lake surface. Except for an increase in fogginess near
the individual thermal outfalls, it is expected that atmospheric modifications
attributable to once-through cooling installations will be insignificant, as
the energy will enter the atmosphere slowly over a large area. The reactor
heat will warm the lake a small fraction of one degree.
While the total quantity of heat put into the lake by these power
plants is very small compared to that exchanged by natural processes (solar
radiation, evaporation, conduction, and long-wave radiation), it does not
immediately follow that the meteorological consequences will also be small,
It is possible that the frequency and severity of the lake snows, fog, and
freezing fog around the south and east shorelines of the lake could be
increased somewhat as a result of a small increase in lake surface temper-
ature. In any event, such meteorological and climatological changes would
be very difficult to isolate in the noise of natural variability of weather
elements.
Thermal plumes introduced into large bodies of water are dissipated
by two processes: through direct surface losses to the atmosphere by
evaporation, radiation, and conduction, and through dilution by mixing
with the cooler main body of water. Unfortunately, the relative magnitudes
cf these two temperature-lowering processes are not known for various
weather and lake conditions. Meteorologists are not able to measure directly
the locally-increased vertical fluxes of radiation, heat, and water vapor
over a thermal plume with the accuracy required because of the small size
and meander of the thermal plume itself. Direct measurements of plume
temperature reduction by mixing with ambient lake water presents experi-
(17)
mental difficulties. Csanady has concluded from a theoretical analysis
that only a small part (on the order of 5%) of the plume's heat is lost to the
atmosphere before mixing lowers the plume's surface temperature excess to
(18)
1°F. More recently, Csanady et al. measured the heat balance of a
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thermal plume from a nuclear power plant on Lake Huron and found that "the
direct heat flux to the atmosphere from the detectable plume was 1/3 of the
(19)
total heat flux." Ayers concludes that there is a "significant loss of
excess heat to air, and an insignificant loss of heat to the underlying cold
water." Clearly, more field measurements are needed to determine rates of
heat loss from thermal plumes over a range of weather conditions. The rela-
tive importance of the two temperature-lowering processes will vary as lake
arid atmospheric conditions change. When the lake is rough, mixing will
be rapid. When it is smooth, the warm water will tend to float with little
mixing and present a larger area of greater temperature excess, and hence
increased heat transfer to the atmosphere.
Except for that advected into Lake Huron, the heat energy mixed
into the main body of Lake Michigan will eventually be returned to the
atmosphere. This transfer takes place over such a large area that it is
reasonable to conclude that once-through cooling will have a much smaller
impact on the atmosphere than alternate cooling methods such as towers or
ponds.
Lake Michigan has a natural temperature resetting mechanism due to
the cooling of the entire body of the lake every winter below 4° C, the
temperature of maximum density of fresh water. Twice each year the lake
is observed to be vertically isothermal at the temperature of maximum density
due to thermal instability and mechanical mixing resulting from storms. Thus,
except for an improbable condition in which a temperature as low as 4°C is
not obtained, lakes such as Lake Michigan cannot accumulate heat energy
year after year. It has been observed that the average temperature of Lake
Michigan has actually decreased 1° to 2°F during the past two or three decades,
despite its use for cooling by industry and fossil-fueled plants, and despite
warmer inflow stream temperatures due to tree removal.
Two scales of weather changes can be expected from thermal dis-
charges into the lake: local changes due to increased heat and moisture
fluxes over the thermal plume, and large scale modificiations due to the
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accumulation of heat energy in the main water body.
Heat and water vapor are added to the atmosphere as air moves from
the land over the lake surface. Owing to the local temperature excess, more
heat will enter the atmosphere from the thermal plume than from the main lake
surface. Thus, air with a trajectory over a thermal plume will be somewhat
warmer, more humid, and less stable as a consequence of thermal discharges.
Observations confirm that an increase in the frequency and density of steam
fog over the immediate plume area is the primary observable effect of thermal
discharges into large water bodies.
Thermal discharges from power plants also might conceivably modify
the large-scale climate of an area. Much of the heat will be mixed into
the main body of the lake, raising its temperature a small fraction of one
(13,21 22)
degree. ' ' Some of the energy added in summer will be stored until
the fall cooling period is reached; increased evaporation and conduction
could then increase the intensity and frequency of lake snows in late fall.
It. does not necessarily follow that the increase in lake snows would be
directly proportional to the extra heat discharge; even a small increase in
water temperature could be just sufficient to release an atmospheric
instability. The amount of heat discharged by power plants is much too small
to cause measurable air temperature changes on the lake shore (see below).
A review of the literature indicates that, except for fog, changes in
weather and climate due to once-through cooling on lakes, rivers, and cool-
ing ponds are too small to be observed. Numerous cases of thin fog and/or
I r\ f\ *) » \
light freezing fog near thermal outfalls or cooling ponds have been reported.
These steam fogs are "wispy" thin and dissipate quickly. In no case did
a statement that these plume-related fogs pose a problem to visibility and
traffic on nearby land appear. If the air temperature is below freezing, these
steam fogs may drift over structures and through vegetation and cause rime
icing. The author has observed dense steam fog 3 to 10 m deep over a
cooling pond when the air was more than 55° C (100° F) cooler than the water.
Ambient air temperature was about -7°C, with low humidity. The fog drifted
inland a maximum of 15 m and deposited a 2- to 3-cm layer of flaky, low-
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density rime ice on vegetation within ifrin'df the canal edge. This ice was so
light as to be no hazard to the plants. No ice had formed on either a bridge
crossing the canal or on trees further inland.
Perhaps the most serious difficulty in conducting field studies at
existing cooling ponds, rivers, and lakes is that the undisturbed water
body itself affects weather conditions. For example, lake-effect snows
and steam fogs frequently occur near Lake Michigan far from any thermal
discharge. But it is very hard to say how the intensity, duration, and
frequency of fogs and freezing fogs in Waukegan, for example (which has a
1,100 MWe coal plant using once-through cooling) has been altered by this
local influx of additional heat.
Isolating possible long-term changes in weather and climate around
the lake will be an even more difficult problem. Calculations show that the
total reject heat from power plants now being built is very small compared
to the meteorological input, and is also very small compared to natural
variations of atmospheric processes.
Nowhere in the literature has the author found a single report of
observed precipitation or significant temperature changes due to once-through
cooling on a large water body.
In midwinter, ice-free areas will be formed at or near the point of
discharge. Plant personnel (including a professional meteorologist) at a
large fossil-fueled plant on Lake Ontario report that the plume area is too
small to affect weather conditions on the shore. Steam fogs are often present
over the plume, but these are rapidly dissipated by mixing with dryer air as
they move inland.
Estimated Weather Effects from Once-through Cooling on Lake Michigan
Some appreciation of the relative improbability of a significant
weather modification by waste heat from nuclear power stations on Lake
Michigan can be obtained by comparing the amounts of heat involved in
power generation with those quantities involved with natural meteorological
(13,21,22)
processes.
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A nominal plant-year, defined as a 1,000 MWe nuclear power plant
operated at full capacity for the entire period, generates 1.5 x 10 cal of
waste heat. Assuming that all of this energy stays in the lake (that is, no
heat is lost to the atmosphere) and that the heat is uniformly mixed through-
out the lake, the temperature rise will be only 0.0032° C per year. If all
nuclear plants scheduled for operation by 1974 are on line (total capacity
about 7,000 MWe) for an entire year, the maximum possible temperature rise
(13)
would be only 0.022°C. This temperature increase is two orders of
magnitude smaller than the observed year-to-year temperature variations
observed in Lake Michigan.
These calculations represent an upper limit of the ability of power
plants to warm the lake, since zero heat losses to the atmosphere were
(21)
assumed. Longtin, using a more complex model which allows for heat
losses to the atmosphere, has concluded that the thermal input from all power
(22)
facilities on the lake is ". . .crudely estimated to be 0.028°C." Asbury,
using a similar but more refined model, reports that the average annual
temperature of the lake will increase only 0.0055°C because of the reject
heat from nuclear plants totaling 7,000 MWe.
A more realistic assumption for the energy distribution within the lake
is that the waste heat is confined to the epilimnion. If it is assumed that
all of the reactor heat generated during the 6-month summer season is con-
fined to a layer 20 m deep and is further restricted to the southern basin
(about 1/3 of the area) of the lake, the temperature rise from nuclear plants
(13)
with a capacity of 7,000 MWe will be 0.14°C. Again, the value is much
smaller than the observed natural variability. These calculations show that
the warming of Lake Michigan by power plants, while undirectional, is too
small to change measurably the average air temperature along its shore.
(13)
Carson has shown that, if all of the reactor waste heat were dis-
sipated to the atmosphere by evaporation only, the additional evaporative
flux would be 0.308 cm/yr. The natural evaporation rate is not known exactly,
but a value of 76 cm/yr is reasonable. Thus, the maximum additional
evaporation due to reactor heat is less than 0.4% of natural. Whether such
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a small increase in humidity is sufficient to be observable is another question.
The extra moisture should also tend to increase precipitation around the lake,
but predicting how much the increase would be, or in what form, is beyond
/o r o C \
the state of the art. ' If all of this water were to fall as snow with a
3
density of 0.1 g/cm over an area 500 km by 50 km, the snow depth would
be 9 cnu(13)
Ihe heat transfer rate by natural evaporation corresponds to the heat
loss from nuclear plants totaling 1,730,000 MWe, showing that man's heat
burden on the lake is trivial.
Natural-Draft Cooling Towers
Weather changes due to cooling towers are more severe than those
related to once-through cooling; at least they are more easily and frequently
observed. Towers dissipate large amounts of heat and water vapor from small
areas at the same rate as power is generated.
Meteorological problems associated with both natural- and forced-
draft types of cooling towers can be separated into three zones; within the
tower, the water droplet plume,and the vapor plume after the droplets
evaporate. Within the tower, the meteorological question is the nucleating
properties, if any, of the drift or carryover o The visible plume presents the
primary and most easily studied problem; predicting the position (plume rise
and height of base), dimensions (length, width, and depth), and liquid
water content of the visible plume from weather conditions (wind speed, wet
and dry bulb temperatures, stability) and plant parameters (inlet water tem-
perature, approach, plant load, size and type of tower, and number of units
on line)* Data on the frequency and areal extent of ground level fog, icing,
and drizzle (mist) are also needed. In the final zone, information on the
effect of the water vapor plumes on cloud formation, precipitation, and
ground-level humidity is needed.
Ground-Level Fog and Icing
Practically every article on cooling towers includes a statement that
natural-draft units "have the potential to cause or to increase the frequency
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of ground-level fog and icing." On the other hand, available observations
near natural-draft towers indicate that the plumes rarely, if ever, reach the
ground. For example, Mr. W. C. Colbaugh of TVA (personal communication)
reports that there have been no cases of visible plumes reaching the ground
during two years of operation of the Paradise, Kentucky steam plant. Accord-
ing to Mr. F. A. Schiermeier of the Office of Air Programs (personal com-
munication) , no surface fogs or icing have been observed in four years of
operation of the Keystone, Pennsylvania Power Plant (1800 MWe). The same
(27)
results have been reported in England and elsewhere in the United
/c 23 28)
States. ' ' These observers report that the visible plumes enter the
atmosphere at heights of 100 m or more and evaporate completely before
(8)
reaching ground level. Hosier does report one occasion on which the
visible plume from a natural-draft cooling tower did reach the ground; this
is the only reported case in the literature. Nevertheless, contrary to actual
observations taken at tower sites, most theoretical analyses predict frequent
(10,14,29)
tower-induced ground-level fog.
Theoretical analyses designed to predict plume dimensions and
ground-level fog from cooling towers usually contain three sections. First,
a model is used to predict plume rise. This model may be one of the standard
plume rise formulas or a cumulus cloud model. Second, a calculation
of the rate of dilution of water vapor from the tower is made using one of the
standard dispersion formulas. Finally, the wind direction and moisture-
deficit climatology of the site are used to determine plume lengths and when
and where the plume will reach the surface.
Photographs taken at cooling tower installations often show the plume
leaving the towers and rising, completely separated from the surface fog of
evidently independent origin, since aerodynamic downwash is not observed
(for example, see Ref. 2). Of course, large orographic eddies could bring
the plume down in areas of sufficiently rough terrain. Then, in any terrain,
mist falling from the plume could cause or add to ground-level fog and icing.
Natural ground fog is fairly frequent in the vicinity of cooling towers, since
these installations are usually located near rivers and other water sources.
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Dimensions of the Visible Plume
Under certain weather conditions (low temperature, high humidity,
moderate wind speed, and a stable atmosphere), the visible plume from a
cooling tower may extend several miles. Colbaugh et al. have measured
plumes extending 16 km in Tennessee. Even longer plumes have been observed
but not reported in the literature. A literature search shows a lack of good
data on cooling tower plumes collected on a systematic basis. The TVA is
now engaged in a major field program to obtain such data, but their analysis
/c\
has not been completed. This program is also measuring the dispersion
of the water vapor plume after the visible portion evaporates.
(32)
Bierman et al. have published the only climatology of plume
lengths available. They measured the length of the plume from a cooling
tower complex in Pennsylvania for six months in 1969 (January 31st through
July). These pictures were taken in early morning, normally the time of day
with the longest visible plumes. It was found that the plumes evaporated
completely on 81.5% of all days during the period of study. Of these, 87 .3%
disappeared within 5 stack heights or 1625 ft of the tower; only 2.6% extend
more than 15 stack heights or 4875 ft. The plume merged with an existing
overcast on 16.5% of all days. On the remaining days (2.0%), the plumes
were classified as "special cases," such as cloud building.
Cloud and Precipitation Formation
(2)
Aynsley has observed that cooling tower plumes can, if meteoro-
logical conditions are proper, create cumulus clouds. He concludes that
this is a "rare occurrence," and that these man-made clouds only precede
natural cloud formation. He discussed the possibility that a cooling tower
plume could somehow trigger an existing atmospheric instability and create
extra cumulus congestus clouds and precipitation miles downwind of the
release point. As the number and size of cooling towers on a given site
increase, the probability of significant alteration of cloudiness and pre-
cipitation patterns will increase. ' The state of the art in cloud physics
is such that we cannot say with any degree of certainty that there will be any
(7)
increase in rainfall amounts due to cooling tower plumes.
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261
There are at least three reported occurrences of snow showers or ice
(33) (34)
crystals being generated by cooling towers [Culkowski, FWQA, and
Colbaugh ] . In all cases, the amounts of snow were very small.
In an unpublished report, the Central Electricity Generating Board of
(27)
Great Britain reported its findings on the environmental effects of cooling
towers. No measurable change in surface relative humidity was detected
downwind. The visible plume sometimes persisted for a number of miles down-
wind, altering sunshine in the area. No drizzle was observed from the towers.
Cumulus clouds were sometimes formed, but no cases of showers or pre-
cipitation being generated by the plume have been observed.
A small part of the cooling water (estimated to be less than 0.1 %), is
carried into the plume without being evaporated. These droplets, called
drift or carryover, contain whatever impurities are present in the makeup
water and release these materials into the atmosphere when they evaporate.
River water, containing soil erosion products, and sea water, are frequently
used in cooling towers. Since certain clay materials are known to be good
cloud seeding agents, these drift particles could be effective cloud nucleat-
ing agents and conceivably might modify clouds and precipitation over a
large area. These drift particles evaporate as they fall to the ground and
may cause surface fog and/or icing near the tower.
Mechanical-Draft Cooling Towers
The fog potential from these smaller forced-ventilation towers is much
greater than for natural-draft units for the following reasons:
1. mechanical units release their water vapor at a much lower
elevation (50 to 80 ft compared to 350 to 500 ft) where winds are weaker, the
saturation deficit is less, and the surface nocturnal inversion frequently
prevails;
2. the plumes are frequently trapped in building eddies; and
3. much higher entrainment rates are generated owing to smaller
exit diameters, high (100 fps) exit speed, and additional turbulence created
by the fan.
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Argonne National Laboratory has several wet cooling towers. On very
cold, calm days, a visible plume may extend upwards 200 ft or so before
disappearing. On cold, windy days, plumes often extend 200 to 500 ft
horizontally. In January 1970 during a near-record period (70 hr) of subzero
temperatures, the author was not able to find icing on any of the trees 200 ft
downwind of the cooling tower, even though they had been in the visible plumes
for over 24 hr. The author has examined these trees on numerous occasions
during the past three years; no ice has ever been detected.
The most thorough review of the effects of natural- and forced-draft
cooling towers on local fogginess and cloud precipitation formation can be
found in a recent paper by Huff et al.
Dry Cooling Towers
In areas where water is expensive or scarce, dry cooling towers
(35)
may be used. It is possible that the large quantities of heat releas*
from such cooling towers could generate sufficient convection to create
(14)
cumulus clouds and precipitation, but this seems unlikely in the sei
desert climates where such units are used.
Cooling Ponds
In areas where land is relatively inexpensive, cooling ponds or lakes
are being constructed. Commonwealth Edison will use this method of heat
dissipation at its Dresden (1,618 MWe) and LaSalle County, Illinois (2,156
MWe) plants. There is a "rule" that 1 acre of water surface is needed to
cool one MWe-fossil, while 1.5 acres are needed for each MWe-nuclear.
Water losses from cooling lakes can be separated into two components:
natural evaporation from an unheated lake and extra water losses due to the
reactor heat. This extra evaporation is less than would be used by cooling
towers of similar capacity, but the total water loss from the cooling pond
is usually greater than that from a cooling tower of similar heat capacity.
In most western states, the total water loss from artificial ponds may be
/
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263
The frequency, intensity, and inland penetration of pond-induced
fogs are items of concern in pond site selection. Observations made at
existing cooling ponds indicate that the fog, except for cases of large-scale
fog formation, is thin, wispy and usually does not penetrate inland more than
100 to 500 ft. It would appear that because the water vapor is released over
large areas, ponds are not a major source of fog, despite the release of the
water at ground level. The pond should be located so that the induced fogs
(and freezing fogs) do not affect roads and bridges.
Steam fog is created whenever the air is sufficiently colder and less
(37)
humid than the underlying water. Church has indicated that steam fog
will form if the vapor-pressure differences between the air and water is 5
millibars or more and the air temperature is at or below freezing. The air
layer next to the water surface is heated and has moisture added; mixing of
this air with the unmodified air just above can lead to supersaturation and
condensation. Further vertical mixing tends to evaporate the steam fog.
It should be remembered that natural steam fog is fairly common in
much of the nation due to the frequent passage of cold air masses over open
water. Because of higher water temperatures, steam fog may form over the
heated water in cooling ponds when conditions do not favor natural steam fog.
Some of the water droplets will be removed by vegetation and other surfaces
as they move across the nearby land areas, causing a local increase in
humidity and dew. During periods of subfreezing temperatures, some of the
droplets will freeze and create a layer of low-density rime ice on nearby
vegetation and structures. Observations at existing ponds indicate that
this rarely, if ever, causes problems with plants, power lines, etc.
Air crossing the pond will be slightly warmer and more humid than it
would otherwise be. How large these changes will be at the shoreline is not
known; it is reasonable to assume that the differences will be insignificant
and too small to measure a short distance inland.
On a very cold winter day, January 5, 1972 (air temperature -2_50F,
relative humidity about 80%), heavy steam fog was present over the cooling
pond of a nuclear power plant in northern Illinois. Light rime ice up to
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264
1/4-in thick was observed on fences and vegetation up to 100 ft from the
lake. The horizontal visibility on a highway bridge over the pond was more
than 100 ft; no ice was observed on the roadbed. Ice crystals were observed
floating in the atmosphere over another road about 100 ft downwind of the pond,
On January 14 and 15, 1972, the visibility on a bridge over the pond
itself averaged less than 100 ft as the fog moved in patches from the pond.
The air temperature during this period remained near zero, with W to NW
winds 10 to 15 knots. Dense portions of this fog momentarily reduced visi-
bility to 5 to 10 ft; a few seconds later, the fog thinned and occasionally
the visibility improved to 200 ft. The bridge was quite slippery, owing
mostly to 2 in of snow on January 13; the combination of poor visibility and
slick roads caused two automobile accidents. Visibility on another road
200 ft from the pond never went below 200 ft.
The maximum observed inland penetration of ground-level fog from
this cooling pond (period of record, November 1971 through February 18, 1972)
was only 1/4 mile (400 m). The steam fogs either evaporate completely or
move aloft and form a cloud deck.
A study has been made of the inland extent of steam fogs generated
/og\
by other cooling ponds. In four steam fogs over a cooling pond in
central Illinois, the downwind fog extended 40 to 150 m. Five observations
were made at the Four Corners power plant in New Mexico in December 1970
and January 1971. The reported inland extent of the fog on two days was 20
to 40 m; on another, 50 to 150 m. On January 7, 1971, when the air temper-
ature was -12° F and the water was +51° F, the fog moved inland 3000 to
3400 m. The next day was 2°F colder, and the inland movement was 14,000
to 18,000 m. The report made no mention of the density of the fog.
(24) (23)
Decker and Zeller et al. have published papers on the effects
of cooling ponds on atmospheric conditions; they report no serious fogging
problems at several cooling ponds in Europe and the USA.
Spray Canals and Ponds
In a spray cooling system, pumps are used to send the heated water
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265
into the atmosphere to increase the area of contact between water and air,
thus increasing the rate of cooling by conduction and evaporation. Typical
units now in service send the water 20 ft upwards over a 40-ft diameter
circle. The primary advantage of a spray system over a cooling pond is the
much smaller area needed to cool a given plant load.
Since spray canals concentrate in both space and time (when compared
to once-through cooling or cooling ponds) the heat transfer to atmosphere,
the atmospheric changes due to the extra heat and water vapor will be en-
hanced o The visible plume created by the spray canal contains drift water
droplets in addition to drops ot condensed vapor. These drift droplets will
tend to be larger than those produced by condensation and add considerably
to the wetting and icing potential of the visible atmospheric plume.
In contrast with cooling towers and ponds, there has been little oper-
ating experience with large spray cooling systems, especially in winter, the
season of greatest interest. A small spray system, designed primarily as a
scale or test model of a full system, has been operated for one winter in
New Hampshire; no serious meteorological problems were experienced
(Mr. James Parks, Public Service of New Hampshire, personal communication).
This system is located in a valley which keeps wind speeds over the spray
modules low; most of the drift droplets fell back into the canal and were not
carried inland„ Typically, the fog created by the spray units rose to a height
cf 200 ft before evaporating and/or moving inland. Her.ce, icing has not
been a serious problem near the canal. On two occasions, very thin fog has
been observed as far as 2 miles from the canal. Canal-produced fogs, in
contrast to natural fogs in this part of New England, are thin and do not
reduce visibilities over nearby highways to less than 100 ft. Since no
significant environmental problems were observed during the past winter, the
utility is now expanding the spray canal to dissipate the entire heat load
from the power plant.
The Dresden, Illinois/Station of the Commonwealth Edison Company
started operation of a spray canal system in August 1971. Experience during
the summer months gave no indication of serious environmental problems due
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266
to log from the spray canal. Commonwealth Edison is now sponsoring a full-
scale investigation of the fogging and icing potential of the Dresden cooling
system which contains a 1275-acre lake in addition to the spray canal.
Although this observation program has just started, experience to date at
Dresden can be used to predict atmospheric effects at other spray canals.
On January 5, 1972, the overnight temperature was well below zero.
At 0800 C.S.T., when the first visual observation of fog and icing was made,
the air temperature was -2.5T and the relative humidity 100%. Over the
spray canal, a dense plume rose to a height of 100 to 150 ft; this visible
plume extended inland about 1000 ft before evaporating (R. W. McLain,
Murray and Trettel, Consulting Meteorologists, personal communication).
About 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 in of hard, dense rime ice was deposited on vegetation
and fences next to the canal; this dense ice, with decreasing thickness, was
found to extend inland 100 to 150 ft. Light rime ice formed further downwind,
up to 1/2 in thick 500 to 700 ft downwind, and 1/4 in at 1000 ft. It was
observed that ice formed only on vertical surfaces, such as fences, posts,
and vegetation. No ice was observed on a road 600 ft downwind of the
spray units.
From the limited experience to date, it is reasonable to expect that
spray cooling systems will create more severe icing conditions during winter
than mechanical draft cooling towers and cooling ponds, with^drift being
a serious problem.
Quantitative estimates of fog and icing potential from spray canals
are not possible, in part because the properties of the air downwind of spray
units (temperature, liquid water content, drop size distribution, etc,,) are
unknown functions of ambient weather conditions (wind speed, air temperature,
humidity, stability), water temperature, and characteristics of the spray-
heads (drop size distribution, number of sprays and their location with respect
to the wind direction, etc.). For most wind conditions, the air will be in
contact with the water from the spray for a shorter period than it would be in
a cooling tower. Thus, the heat and moisture transfer to the air will be
slower, and more air will be modified to cool a given plant load.
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267
Based on experience at the two locations mentioned above, the
primary atmospheric effect will be dense fog and hard rime ice on vertical
surfaces near the spray units on cold days (< + 10°F) in winter, with thin fog
and light rime ice extending some distance inland.
Summary and Conclusions
The amount of heat energy contained in the cooling water from the
large nuclear power stations is quite small compared to the natural heat
processes. Since the heat energy from these plants with once-through cool-
ing systems will enter the atmosphere over a large area, changes in weather
will be small and probably impossible to isolate in the natural variability
of weather elements. An exception will be an increase of steam fog in fall
and winter at the point of discharge.
Alternate cooling systems, such as cooling towers, cooling ponds,
and spray canals, release the energy to the atmosphere rapidly over a small
area; hence, the potential for local weather changes is greatly enhanced.
Much care should be given to cooling site location so that the fog and icing
do not seriously restrict road traffic, etc.
From a meteorologist's point of view, once-through cooling on a large
water body is to be preferred over either cooling towers or cooling ponds.
References
1. Federal Power Commission, Chicago Office, Electric Load and Supply
Pattern in the Contiguous United States, September 1971.
2. Aynsley, E. Cooling-tower effects: Studies abound. Electrical World,
42-43 (May 11, 1970).
3. Stockham, J. Cooling Tower Study. Final report for Contract No. CPA
22-69-122, IITRI Report No. C6187-3, EPA Air Poll. Cont. Office,
Durham, North Carolina (1971).
4. Overcamp, T. J. and D. P. Hoult. Precipitation from Cooling Towers in
Cold Climates. Publ. No. 70-7, Dept. Mech. Eng., MIT
Cambridge, Mass. (1970).
5. Decker, F. W. Report on Cooling Towers and Weather. FWPCA,
Corvallis, Ore. (1969).
6. Colbaugh, W. C., J. P. Blackwell, and J..M. Leavitt. Interim report
on investigation of cooling tower plume behavior, TVA Muscle Shoals.
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Paper presented at the A, I. Ch. E. Cooling Tower Symp., Houston,
Texas, March 3, 1971.
7. Huff, F. A., R. C. Beebe, D. M. A, Jones, G. M. Morgan, and R. G.
Semonin.- Effect of Cooling Tower Effluents on Atmospheric Conditions
in Northeastern Illinois. Ill, State Water Survey, Urbana, Circ. 100
(1971).
8. Hosier, C. L. Wet cooling tower plume behavior. Paper presented at
the A. I. Cho E. Cooling Tower Symp0, Houston, Texas, March 2,
1971.
9. Hanna, S. R. and S, D. Swisher. Meteorological effects of the heat
and moisture produced by man. Nucl. Safety _1_2_, 114-122 (1970).
10. EG & G, Inc. Potential Environmental Modifications Produced by Large
Evaporative Goolirtg Towers. EPA WQCX Water Pollution Control
Research Series Report No. 16130 DNH 01/71 (1971).
11. Kolflat, T. D. Thermal discharges—an overview. Proc. of the American
Power Congress, Vol. 3, pp. 412-426, Chicago, April 20-22, 1971.
12. Altomare, P.M. The application of meteorology in determining the
environmental effects of evaporative heat dissipation systems.
Paper presented at 64th Ann. Mtg. Air Pollut. Control Assoc.,
Atlantic City, June 27-July 1, 1971.
13. Carson, J. E. Some comments on the atmospheric consequences of
thermal enrichment from power generating stations on a large lake.
Paper presented at the 64th Ann. Mtg. of Air Pollut. Control Assoc.,
Atlantic City, N. J., June 29, 1971.
14. McVehil, G. E. Evaluation of Cooling Tower Effects at Zion Nuclear
Generating Station, Final Report, Sierra Res. Corp. for Commonwealth
Edison Co., Chicago (1970).
15. Ackermann, W. C. Research Needs on Waste Heat Transfer from Large
Sources into the Environment. Illinois State Water Survey Report
(December 1971).
16. Great Lakes Fishery Laboratory. Physical and Ecological Effects on
Waste Heat on Lake Michigan. Bur. Commercial Fisheries, Ann
Arbor , Mich. (1970).
17. Csanady, G. T. Waste heat disposal in the Great Lakes. Proc. 13th
Ann. Conf. Great Lakes Res,, 388-397 (1970).
18. Csanady, G. T., W. R. Crawford, and B. Pade. Thermal Plume Study at
Douglas Point, Lake Huron. University of Waterloo (1970).
19. Ayers, J. C. Remarks on Thermal Pollution in the Great Lakes.
Unpublished report (1970).
20. Ayers, J. C. The Climatology of Lake Michigan. Great Lakes Research
Division, University of Michigan, Publication No,, .- (1965).
21. Longtin, J. P. Temperature Increase in Lake Michigan due to Thermal
Discharges from Electrical Power Facilities. Unpublished FWPCA
Report (February 1969).
22. Asbury, J. P. Effects of Thermal Discharges on the Mass/Energy Balance
of Lake Michigan, ANL/ES-1, July 1970,
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23. Zeller, R. W., H. E. Simison, E. J. Weathersbee, H. Patterson,
G. Hansen, and P. Hildebrandt. Report on Trip to Seven Thermal
Power Plants. Prepared for Pollution Control Council, Pacific North-
west Area (1969).
24. Decker, F. W. Background Study for Pond Cooling for Industry. Oregon
State University, Corvallis (March 1970).
25.- Lowry, E. P. Environmental effects of nuclear cooling facilities. Bull.
Am. Meteor. Soc. 51, 23-24 (1970).
26. Hewson, E. W. Moisture pollution of the atmosphere by cooling towers
and cooling ponds. Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc. 51, 21-22 (1970).
27. Great Britain Central Electricity Generating Board. Pollution of the
Atmosphere by Humidity from Cooling Towers. Report 23/63 (1968).
28. Broehl, D. J. Field Investigation of Environmental Effects of Cooling
Towers for Large Steam Electric Plants. Portland General Electric
Company (1968).
29. Travelers Research Corp. Climatic Effects of a Natural Draft Cooling
Tower. Davis-Besse Nuclear Plant (1969).
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TID-25075 (1969).
31. Weinstein, A. I. and L. G. Davis. A Parameterized Numerical Model
of Cumulus Convection. NSF Report No. 11, NSF GA-777, Department
of Meteorology, Penn. State Univ., University Park (1968).
32. Bierman, G. F., G-. Ai Kunder, J. F. 'Sebald, and R. F. Vi'sbisky.
Characteristics, classification and incident plumes from large natural
draft cooling towers. Proc. Am. Power Conf. 33, 535-545 (1971).
33. Culkowski, W. M. An anomalous snow at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Monthly Weather Rev. 90., 194-196 (1962).
34. Federal Water Quality Administration. Feasibility of Alterative Means
of Cooling for Thermal Power Plants near Lake Michigan. Prepared
by National Thermal Pollution Research Program, Pacific Northwest
Water Laboratory and Great Lakes Regional Office, U.S. Department
of Interior (1970).
35. Rossie, J. P., E. A. Cecil, P. R. Cunningham, and C. J. Steiert.
Electric power generation with dry-type cooling systems. Proc. Am.
Power Conf. 3.3, 524-534 (1971).
36. Hauser, L. G. and K. A. Oleson. Comparison of evaporative losses in
various condenser cooling water systems, Proc. Am. Power Conf. 32,
519-527 (1970).
37. Church, P. E. Steam-fog over Lake Michigan in winter. Trans. Am.
Geophys. Union 26., 353-357 (1945).
38. Bechtel Company. The Environmental Effects of the Midland Plant Cool-
ing Pond-Interim Report. Part of the Environmental Impact Report
submitted by Consumers Power Co ., Michigan (June 1971).
-------
The Atmospheric Effects of Thermal
Discharges into a Large Lake
James E. Carson
Argonne National Laboratory
Concern for the biological and ecological effects of heated water has resulted in
legal actions that will prevent power companies from dumping the waste heat
from the majority of their new generating units into rivers and lakes. Many
nuclear- and fossil-fueled plants now under construction, and even some now on-
line, are being required to change from once-through cooling systems to other
methods, such as wet cooling towers, cooling ponds, and spray canals, despite
higher costs and lower thermal efficiencies. Yet, these alternate cooling pro-
cedures are not without their own environmental problems.
The primary weather change due to once-through cooling on a large water
body is a small local increase in fogginess at the plant outfall. But the relative
probability of significant local meteorological effects is much higher with alternate
cooling procedures, since these reduce the area of heat and moisture transfer.
It is therefore concluded that, from a meteorological point of view, the least un-
desirable way to dispose of waste heat is by using once-through cooling on large
water bodies.
The peak demand for electrical power
in the United States is increasing at a
rate of 7% per year.1 This increase is
due both to increasing population and
to increasing per capita consumption.
Almost all of the new capacity will
consist of thermal (steam) units, both
nuclear- and fossil-fueled, with marked
trends toward larger capacity units
and more units on a given site. De-
spite their lower thermal efficiencies,
an increasing fraction of the new plants
will be nuclear, this choice being made
in part to reduce emissions of atmo-
spheric pollutants such as flyash and
sulfur dioxide.
Two fossil fuel (with a capacity of 616
MWe) and five nuclear plants (6732
MWe) are now being installed along the
shores of Lake Michigan2 and are ex-
pected to be on-line with the 25 opera-
tional plants by 1974. These plants
will have a total capacity of 15,626
MWe. All were originally designed for
once-through cooling. Recent actions
of the Environmental Protection Agency
may force most, if not all, of the new
plants to use alternate cooling tech-
niques, such as cooling towers or cooling
ponds.
Utilities use large amounts of water
to cool the condensers in the plant;
the cooler this water is, the more effi-
cient the process will be. Until re-
cently, most plants have used once-
through cooling, drawing water from
lakes, rivers, or the ocean, heating it
10°-25° F as it passes through the
plant, and returning it to the source.
Because of concern for both the effects
of increased temperatures on the biota
of the receiving water body and short-
ages of cooling water, many power
generating stations now under con-
struction will use cooling towers or
cooling ponds to dissipate much of the
heat to the atmosphere before recycling
the cooling water or returning it to the
source. Lower costs of operation and
installation dictate the use of "wet"
or evaporative supplemental cooling
systems except in areas of very limited
water supplies.
The state of the art is such that
meteorologists are not able to predict
quantitatively how the atmosphere will
react to the large amounts of heat
energy and water vapor that it will be
forced to absorb as the result of the
disposal of waste heat from power
Dr. Carson is associate meteor-
ologist in the Atmospheric Physics
Section, Radiological Physics Divi-
sion, Argonne National Laboratory,
Argonne, 111. 60439. The work
upon which this paper was based
was performed under the auspices of
the U. S. Atomic Energy Commis-
sion. The paper was presented at
the 64th Annual Meeting of APCA
at Atlantic City, N. J., in June 1971
as Paper No. 71-58.
July 1972 Volume 22, No. 7
Reprinted from APCA JOURNAL, Vol. 22, No. 7, July, 1972
523
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plants. Conceivably, critical heat re-
lease rates may exist for particularly
sensitive sites which, when exceeded,
may lead to significant meteorological
effects, such as the generation of thun-
derstorms in convectively unstable,
subtropical conditions.
Large quantities of reject heat are
not unique to nuclear electrical gener-
ating stations since all heat engines
release heat to the environment. In
other words, what is frequently called
"waste heat" is really a necessary part
of the energy conversion process.
Almost all of the energy produced
by electrical power stations, both the
waste heat and the useful power gener-
ated, is eventually dissipated to the
atmosphere. In this paper the poten-
tial meteorological effects of the waste
heat are explored. While studies of
the effect of thermal discharges on the
atmosphere are relevant to all types of
power generation, they are particularly
significant to water-cooled nuclear
power plants which produce 40 to 50%
more waste heat per unit of electricity
than modern fossil-fueled plants. Part
of the difference in cooling requirements
is caused by the loss of heat up the
chimney in conventional power plants
(10 to 12% of the total). It should be
noted that all but the most modern of
the fossil-fueled plants now on-line
operate at efficiencies comparable to
the new nuclear plants.
Statements made by the utilities
serving the Lake Michigan area indicate
that alternate cooling methods, such
as cooling towers and ponds, may be
used for plants now being designed.
These alternate cooling methods are
not without their own environmental
problems, and the meteorological con-
sequences of these procedures are
briefly discussed. It is found that
once-through cooling is the preferred
method, meteorologically speaking.
To date only a limited number of
research and field studies on the atmo-
spheric aspects of thermal pollution
have been conducted and reported in
the literature. Published papers in-
clude those of Aynsley,2 Stockham,4
Overcamp and Hoult,5 Decker,6 Col-
baugh, et al.,7 Huff, et al.,8 Hosier,9
Hanna and Swisher,10 EG&G,11 Kol-
flat,12 and Altomare.13
In September 1971, the National
Science Foundation sponsored a work-
shop to prepare a list of the areas of
ignorance in the field of environmental
aspects of thermal discharges from large
sources and to suggest research proj-
ects to improve our knowledge.14
This conference covered many topics
in addition to the atmospheric aspects
of waste heat discharges.
This paper deals primarily with the
atmospheric effects of once-through
cooling on a large lake, such as Lake
Michigan. It was found that the total
energy released by these nuclear power
plants is a very small fraction of the
natural heat transfer processes on the
Lake; it is concluded that the meteoro-
logical and climatological consequences
will be small. Except for a small
amount advected into Lake Huron, all
of the power plant reject heat will
eventually enter the atmosphere through
radiation, evaporation, and conduction
from the lake surface.
While the total quantity of heat put
into the lake by these power plants is
very small compared to that exchanged
by natural processes (solar radiation,
evaporation, conduction, and long-wave
radiation), it does not immediately
follow that the meteorological con-
sequences will also be small. It is
possible that the frequency and severity
of the lake snows, fog, and freezing fog
around the south and east shorelines
of the lake could be increased some-
what as a result of a small increase in
lake surface temperature. In any
event, such meteorological and cli-
matological changes would be very
difficult to isolate in the noise of natural
variability of weather elements.
Observed Weather Changes Caused by
Thermal Enrichment
Thermal plumes introduced into
large bodies of water are dissipated by
two processes: through direct surface
losses to the atmosphere by evaporation,
radiation, and conduction, and through
dilution by mixing with the cooler,
main body of water. Unfortunately,
the relative magnitudes of these two
temperature-lowering processes are not
known for various weather and lake
conditions. Meteorologists are not
able to measure directly the locally-
increased vertical fluxes of radiation,
heat, and water vapor over a thermal
plume with the accuracy required due
to the small size and meander of the
thermal plume itself. Direct measure-
ment of plume temperature reduction
by mixing with ambient lake water
presents experimental difficulties. Csa-
nady15 has concluded from a theoretical
analysis that only a small part (on the
order of 5%) of the plume's heat is
lost to the. atmosphere before mixing
lowers the plume's surface temperature-
excess to 1 °F. More recently, Csanady,
et al.16 measured the heat balance of
a thermal plume from a nuclear power
plant on Lake Huron and found that
"the direct heat flux to the atmosphere
from the detectable plume was % of
the total heat flux." Ayers17 concludes
that there is a "significant loss of excess
heat to air, and an insignificant loss of
heat to the underlying cold water."
Clearly, more field measurements are
needed to determine rates of heat loss
from thermal plumes over a range of
weather conditions. The relative im-
portance of the two temperature-
lowering processes will vary as lake and
atmospheric conditions change. When
the lake is rough, mixing will be rapid.
When it is smooth, the warm water will
tend to float with little mixing and pre-
sent a larger area of greater temperature
excess, and hence increased heat transfer
to the atmosphere.
Except for that advected into Lake
Huron, the heat energy mixed into
the main body of Lake Michigan will
eventually be returned to the atmo-
sphere. This transfer takes place over
such a large area that it is reasonable to
conclude that once-through cooling will
have a much smaller impact on the
atmosphere than alternate cooling
methods such as towers or ponds.
Lake Michigan has a natural tem-
perature resetting mechanism due to
the cooling of the entire body of the
lake every winter below 4°C, the tem-
perature of maximum density of fresh
water. Twice each year the lake is
observed to be vertically isothermal at
the temperature of maximum density
due to thermal instability and me-
chanical mixing due to storms. Thus, up
to an improbable condition in which a
temperature as low as 4°C is not ob-
tained, lakes such as Lake Michigan
cannot accumulate heat energy year
after year. It has been observed18
that the average temperature of Lake
Michigan has actually decreased 1°-
2°F during the past two or three dec-
ades despite its use for cooling by in-
dustry and fossil-fueled plants, and
despite warmer inflow-stream tem-
peratures due to tree removal.
Two scales of weather changes can
be expected from thermal discharges
into the lake: local changes due to in-
creased heat and moisture fluxes over
the thermal plume, and large-scale
modifications due to the accumulation
of heat energy in the main water body.
Heat and water vapor are added to
the atmosphere as air moves from the
land over the lake surface. Due to the
local temperature excess, more heat
will enter the atmosphere from the
thermal plume than from the main lake
524
Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association
-------
surface. Thus, air with a trajectory
over a thermal plume will bi somewhat
warmer, more humid, and less stable
as a consequence of thermal discharges.
Observations confirm that an increase
in the frequency and density of steam
fog over the immediate plume area is
*he primary observable effect of thermal
discharges into large water bodies.
Thermal discharges from power
plants also might conceivably modify
the large-scale climate of an area.
Much of the heat will be mixed into the
main body of the lake, raising its tem-
perature a small fraction of one de-
grr,, 19,20 gome Of the energy added in
_., ,er will be stored until the fall
cooling period is reached; increased
evaporation and conduction could then
increase the intensity and frequency
of lake snows in late fall. It does not
necessarily follow that the increase in
lake snows would be directly propor-
tional to the extra heat discharge;
even a small increase in water tem-
perature could be just sufficient to
release an atmospheric instability. The
amount of heat discharged by power
plants is much too small to cause mea-
surable air temperature changes on
the lake shore (see below).
A review of the literature indicates
that, except for fog, changes in weather
and climate due to once-through cooling
on lakes, rivers, and cooling ponds are
too small to be observed. Numerous
cases of thin fog and/or light freez-
ing fog near thermal outfalls or
cooling ponds have been reported.21'22
These steam fogs are "wispy", thin and
dissipate quickly. In no case did a
statement that these plume-related fogs
pose a problem to visibility and traffic
on nearby land appear. If the air
temperature is below freezing, these
steam fogs may drift over structures
and through vegetation and cause rime
icing. The author has observed dense
steam fog 3 to 10 meters deep over a
cooling pond when the air was more
than 55°C (100°F) cooler than the
water. Ambient air temperature was
about —7°C, with low humidity. The
fog drifted inland a maximum of 15 m
and deposited a 2 to 3 cm layer of flaky,
low-density rime ice on vegetation
within 4 m of the canal edge. This ice
was so light as to be no hazard to the
plants. No ice had formed on either
a bridge crossing the canal or on trees
further inland.
Perhaps the most serious difficulty
in conducting field studies at existing
cooling ponds, rivers, and lakes is that
the undisturbed water body itself affects
weather conditions. For example, lake-
effect snows and steam fogs frequently
occur near Lake Michigan far from any
thermal discharge. But it is very hard
to say how the intensity, duration, and
frequency of fogs and freezing fogs in
Waukegan, for example (which has a
1100 MWe coal plant using once-
through cooling), has been altered by
this local influx of additional heat.
Isolating possible long-term changes
in weather and climate around the lake
will be an even more difficult problem.
Calculations show that the total reject
heat from power plants now being built
is very small compared to the me-
teorological input, and is also very small
compared to natural variations of
atmospheric processes.
Nowhere in the literature has the
author found a single report i if observed
precipitation or significant temperature
change due to once-through cooling on
a large water body.
In midwinter, ice-free areas will be
formed at or near the point of discharge.
Plant personnel (including a professional
meteorologist) at a large fossil-fueled
plant on Lake Ontario report that the
plume area is too small to affect weather
conditions on the shore. Steam fogs
are often present over the plume, but
these are rapidly dissipated by mixing
with drier air as they move inland.
The power plant heat in Lake Mich-
igan will act to reduce the ice cover by
delaying its formation in fall and to
advance its melting in spring. Thus,
the shipping season will be slightly
increased; how many minutes or hours
per year is a valid but unanswered
question.
Estimated Weather Effects from Once-
Through Cooling on Lake Michigan
Some appreciation of the relative
improbability of a significant weather
modification by waste heat from nuclear
power stations on Lake Michigan can
be obtained by comparing the amounts
of heat involved in power generation
with those quantities involved with
natural meteorological processes.
The following assumptions, all con-
servative (that is, yielding a maximum
value for the meteorological change
being considered), were made in the
following calculations:
a. Each reactor is operated at full
capacity for the entire year.
b. The thermal efficiency of the plant
is 33%, and all of the waste heat
enters the lake (in nuclear power
plants, about 5% of the energy is
lost to the atmosphere inside the
plant).
c. No heat is lost from coolitig water to
the atmosphere before it enters the
lake.
d. Only one heat dissipation process is
operating at any one time.
e. Nuclear plants with a capacity of
7000 MWe will be on line.
Data on the volume, surface area, and
other features of Lake Michigan are
listed in the Appendix.
Annual Temperature Rise
A quantitative estimate of the amount
of temperature rise possible in Lake
Michigan because of nuclear waste heat
can be obtained from the following
simple calculation. A nominal plant-
year, defined as a 1000 MWe nuclear
operated at full capacity for the entire
period, generates 1.5 X 1016 calories
of waste heat. If we assume that all of
this energy stays in the lake (that is,
there are no losses to the atmosphere
by evaporation, radiation, or conduc-
tion), the temperature rise is given by
AT =
H_
ms
where H is the heat added, m is the mass
of water warmed, and s the specific heat
of water ( = 1 cal/g/°C). If this heat
were uniformly mixed throughout the
lake (horizontally and vertically), then
for a 1000-MWe plant,
AT7 =
1.5 X 1016 cal
4.65 X 1018 g X 1 cal/g/deg
AT = 0.0032°C/yr
For 7000 MWe,
AT7 = 0.022°C/yr
Both are two orders of magnitude
smaller than the observed year-to-year
temperature variations in Lake Mich-
igan.18 It should also be remembered
that Ayers has found that the Lake has
cooled about 2°F in the past 40 years
despite its use as a thermal sink for
existing power plants and industry,
and warmer stream temperatures due
to forest removal.
These calculations represent an upper
limit of the ability of power plants to
warm the lake, since zero heat losses
to the atmosphere were assumed.
Longtin,19 using a more complex model
which allows for heat losses to the at-
mosphere, has concluded that the
thermal input from all power facilities
on the Lake is ".. .crudely estimated to
be 0.028°C." Asbury,20 using a similar
but more refined model reports that the
average annual temperature of the Lake
will increase only 0.0055° C due to the
reject heat from nuclear plants totaling
7000 MWe.
July 1972 Volume 22, No. 7
525
-------
Summer Surface Temperature Changes
A more realistic assumption for the
heat distribution within the lake is that
the energy is confined to the epilimnion.
If it is assumed that all of the reactor
heat generated during the 6-mo summer
season is confined to a layer 20 m deep
and is further restricted to the southern
basin (about J^ of the area) of the lake,
the temperature rise is
AT = H/ms = H/pAds
where p is water density, A is the area,
and d the depth of the mixed zone.
For a 1000-MWe nuclear plant,
AT =
7.5 X 1016 cal
1 g/cm3 X 1.93 X 1014 cm2 X 2 X 103 cm X 1 cal/g/°C
7'5 X
= 0.0194°C
3.86 X 10"
For 7000 MWe,
AT = 0.14°C
This value is again much smaller than
the observed natural variability.
These calculations show that the
warming of Lake Michigan, while
unidirectional, is much too small to
change measurably the average air
temperature along its shore.
Warming Inside the Thermal Bar
In spring, the waters of the lake near
the shore warm faster than the deeper
waters, and a "thermal bar" is created.23
This "bar" acts to reduce lateral mixing,
and confines heated effluents to the
shore-line.
Two of the nuclear installations now
under construction will have a total
capacity of 2200 MWe. The maximum
heat discharge rate into the lake will
be 2.1 X 109 cal/sec. It is assumed
that the thermal bar is only 2 km from
the shore (a conservative estimate),
that the water at this point is 10 m
deep, and the coastal current is 0.5
in/sec (about 1 mph). The water
transported past the discharge point
will be 5 X 109 cmYsec. If the water
inside the thermal bar is completely
mixed, the temperature rise will be
= 0.42°C
AT = -- =
m/t X s
2.1 X 109 cal/sec
5X109g/secXlcal/g/°C
This temperature rise is small compared
to measured hour-to-hour changes in
lake temperature observed near the
shore.
Evaporation
In the above calculations, it was as-
sumed that no heat was lost to the
atmosphere by evaporation, conduction,
or radiation.
If we now assume that all of the
nuclear waste heat is used to evaporate
water (again, a conservative assump-
tion), the amount of additional evapora-
tion is given by
// = mL — LpAd
where p, A, and d are density, area and
depth as before, and L is latent heat.
For a 1000-MWe plant,
1J5JX 1016 cal/yr
""
Ig/cm3
For 7000 MWe,
d = 0.308 cm/yr or 0.12 in./yr
The natural evaporation rate is not
known exactly, but a depth of 76 cm/yr
(30 in. /year) is reasonable. Thus, the
additional evaporation due to reactor
heat is less than 0.4% of natural. This
extra moisture should act to increase
slightly humidity in the area; whether
the increase is sufficient to be observable
is another question. The extra vapor
should also act to increase precipitation
around the lake, but predicting how
much the increase would be, and in
what form, is beyond the state of the
art.24.25
The heat transfer rate of the natural
evaporation (76 cm/yr) corresponds
to the heat loss from nuclear plants
totaling 1,730,000 MWe, showing again
that man's heat burden on the lake is
trivial compared to nature's.
Water Budget
It is estimated that the flow of water
from Lake Michigan into Lake Huron
lies somewhere between 40,000 and
55,000 cfs (1133 to 1560 rn3/sec). An
additional 3200 cfs (91 m3/sec) is
diverted into the Mississippi River
Basin. The water lost by evaporation
per unit time, V/t, is given by
V/t = H/t/Lp
For a 1000-MWe plant,
V/t = H/t/Lp
~ 590 cal/g X 1 g/cm3
= 8.1 X 105 cmVsec or 28.6 cfs
For 7000 MWe,
vol/sec = 210 cfs
This number represents the upper
limit of water loss by evaporation by
any cooling technique used. Because
of heat losses by radiation and conduc-
tion, once-through cooling would evapo-
rate less water than a cooling pond,
and both would use less than cooling
towers.
Net Radiation
Long-wave radiation From the water
surface is another heat dissipation
process. The Brunt26 formula for net
heat loss for clear conditions at night is
where
-------
Church27 reports that the heat lost
to the atmosphere during these turnover
periods averages about 300 cal/cm2/day.
Over the entire area of the lake, this
amounts to 1.74 X 10" cal/day. Nu-
clear plants with 7000-MWe capacity
generate 1.05 X 1017 cal/year. It
would appear that the change in the
time of overturning will be of the order
of one day, or much less than the ob-
served variability, about one month.
Church measured daily heat losses to the
atmosphere as large as 600 cal/cm2/day,
or 3.5 X 10" cal/day over the entire
lake.
Church27 reports that the annual heat
budget of the south basin of Lake
Michigan is 52,000 cal/cm2. That is,
this amount of energy is absorbed during
the summer and returned to the atmo-
sphere the following winter. If all of
the reactor heat were used in a similar
manner, the extra annual heat exchange
would be (from 7000 MWe) 181 cal/
cm2. For comparison on an average
daily basis, the observed solar energy
received at the Argonne site is 348 cal/
cm2/day. In December, the month
with the least insolation, the average
over 15 years is 135 units.
Reactor Heat rs Sunshine
Solar radiation reaching the ground
at noon on a clear day at Argonne
averages about 1.5 cal/cmVmin in
June, 0.7 units in December. A 1000-
MWe reactor generates 28.6 X 109
cal/min of reject heat. This cor-
responds to noon sunshine on a 477-
acre area in June, 1000 acres in De-
cember. The observed plume from
1100-MWe coal plant on Lake Michigan
covers an area somewhat less than a
square mile. Thus, the heat generated
by the plant is about equal to the solar
load on the plume at noon in summer,
doubling the thermal input to that body
of water.
A 1000-MWe reactor puts 28.6 X 109
cal/min into the cooling water, 7000
MWe places 2 X 10n units. The solar
constant is 2.00 cal/cm2/min. Over
an area equal to that of Lake Michigan,
this amounts to 1.16 X 1015 cal/min.
That is, the reactor heat load on the
lake is only 0.02% of the solar constant
on the same area.
The Argonne sunshine data show a
value of about 800 cal/cm2 on a clear
day in June. 300 units on a clear day
in December. Very cloudy days in
June can receive as little as 80 units,
and only 1 in December. These are
record single days in a 15-yr period.
If all of the heat energy from 7000 MWe
reactors operating at capacity for a full
year were stored in the water and
released during one day, the heat flux
would be 181 cal/cm2/day. This value
is equivalent to a few extra hours of
clear skies in summer, and is less than
one additional clear day in winter, and
is also small compared to year-to-year
variations in cloudiness in the area.
Snowfall
It is assumed that all of the heat from
a 1000-MWe reactor is used to evaporate
water. In one day, this amounts to
7.0 X 1010 grams. If all of this water
were to fall as snow (density = 0.1)
over a 10- X 30-km area, the snow
depth from this water would be
h = -
mass
area X density
7.0 X 1010 g
0.1 g/cm3 X 3 X 1012 cm2
= 0.233 cm or 0.1 in.
If all the reactor heat for a full year
were converted into snow over a belt
500 X 40 km, the snow depth would be
and cause the plume to descend to
ground level; this has not been observed
in England but may occur in hilly
terrain, The extra heat and water
vapor does under proper meteorological
conditions create cumulus clouds. The
possibility that the cooling tower plume
somehow triggers an existing atmo-
spheric instability and creates extra
cumulus congestus clouds and precipita-
tion miles downwind of the release
point must be considered. There are at
least three reported occurrences of snow
showers or ice crystals being generated
by cooling towers.7'29'30
Aynsley3 has observed that cooling
tower plumes can, if meteorological
conditions are proper, create cumulus
clouds. He concludes that this is a
/, = (7.0 X 1010g/GWe/day) (7 GWe) (365 days/yr)
(0.1 g/cm3) (2 X 1014cm2)
= 8.94 cm or 3.5 in.
Average depths in the snow belt of
the State of Michigan run from 40 to
100 in./yr, with the lower value near
the site of the power plant now under
construction.28
It should be remembered that lake-
effect snows are the result of convection
created by intense surface heating by
the relatively warm water. It is
entirely possible that increases in snow
amounts could be considerably greater
than suggested by the above calcula-
tions due to a greater release of con-
vective instability.
Meteorological Effects of Cooling Towers
Weather changes due to cooling
towers are more severe than those re-
lated to once-through cooling; at least
they are more easily and frequently
observed. Towers dissipate large
amounts of heat and water vapor from
small areas, and at the same rate as
power is generated.
In once-through cooling systems, the
heat releases to the atmosphere may
occur over large areas days or weeks
after being generated and long after
the thermal plume has disappeared.
Most reports dealing with the me-
teorological consequences of natural
draft cooling towers state that they have
the "potential" to cause ground-level
fog: observations at towers indicated
that they rarely if ever do.2'3-6~9'21 The
warm, moist plume enters the atmo-
sphere at heights of 100 m or more, and
evaporate, before reaching ground level.
Cooling tower vapor releases could
reach the ground in hilly terrain areas.
An inversion aloft plus radiative and
evaporative cooling from the top of the
plume could create a negative buoyancy
"rare occurrence," and that these man-
made clouds only precede natural
cloud formation. He also speculates
that extra heat and water vapor could
increase downwind rainfall.
Photographs taken at cooling tower
sites frequently show ground level fog
completely separate from the rising
plume from the towers.3 The surface
fog is caused by natural processes, such
as nocturnal radiation; the rivers and
reservoirs used to supply makeup water
to the towers aid in the formation of fog.
In an unpublished report (date June
1968), the Central Electricity Gen-
erating Board of Great Britain reported
its findings on the environmental ef-
fects of cooling towers. No measurable
change in relative humidity was de-
tected downwind. The visible plume
sometimes persisted for a number of
miles downwind, altering sunshine in
the area. No drizzle was observed
from the towers. They reported that
cumulus clouds were sometimes formed
but that no cases of showers or precipita-
tion being generated by the plumes have
been observed.
A small part of the cooling water
(estimated to be less than 0.1% of the
cooling water) is carried into the plume
without being evaporated. These
droplets, called drift, will contain
whatever impurities are in the makeup
water, and release these materials into
the atmosphere when they evaporate.
River water, containing soil erosion
products, and sea water are common
sources of this water. Some clay
materials are known to be good seeding
agents. The resulting particles may
July 1972 Volume 22, No. 7
527
-------
be effective nucleating agents, and thus
could modify clouds and precipitation
over a large area.
Many nuclear plants will use me-
chanical draft cooling towers. These
towers, with their low level of release
(20-30 m) and more rapid entrainment,
do cause ground-level fog. The plumes
mix rapidly with ambient air (due to
their small diameters, higher exit speeds,
and greater internal turbulence) and are
often caught in the building wake.
Also, the saturation deficit is lower at
this height than for natural draft towers.
Therefore, more attention must be
paid to site selection to minimize fog
over highways if forced draft towers
are used.31
The Argonne National Laboratory
has several small wet cooling towers.
On very cold, calm days, a visible plume
may extend upwards 100 m or so before '
disappearing. On cold, windy days,
they often extend a similar distance
horizontally. Last winter, during a
near-record period (70 hr) of sub-zero
temperatures, the author was not able
to find icing on any of the trees just
downwind of the Zero Gradient Syn-
chrotron cooling tower, even though
they had been in the visible plume for
over 24 hr.
The most thorough review of the effects
of cooling towers on local fogginess,
and cloud and precipitation formation
can be found in the recent paper by
Huff, et al.8 There are several refer-
ences in the literature on observed
weather changes due to wet cooling
APPENDIX
The following data tor Lake Michigan
were used :
Area
6.25 X
Summary and Conclusions
The amount of heat energy contained
in the cooling water from the large
nuclear power stations is quite small
compared to the natural heat processes.
Since the heat energy from these plants
with once-through cooling systems will
enter the atmosphere over a large area,
changes in weather will be small and
probably impossible to isolate in the
natural variability of weather elements.
An exception will be an increase of
steam fog in fall and winter at the point
of discharge.
Alternate cooling systems, such as
cooling towers, cooling ponds, and
spray canals, release their energy to
the atmosphere rapidly over a small
area; hence, the potential for local
weather changes is greatly enhanced.
Much care should be given to cooling
site location so that the fog and icing
do not seriously restrict road traffic, etc.
From a meteorologist's point of view,
once-through cooling on a large water
body is to be preferred over either
cooling towers or cooling ponds. Be-
cause of the large heat capacity of the
lake, this heat rejection procedure will
not cause any significant changes in
the weather and climate of the area.
22,400 sq mi
1012 sq ft
= 5.80 X 104 km2 = 5.80
X 10" cm2
Volume = 1.64 X 1014 ft3 = 1.23 X
]015gal = 1116 mi3
= 4,652 km3 = 4.652 X
10lb cm3
1.02 X !016 Ib
Mass =
Average
depth
Outflow
= 4.65 X 1018 g
276ft = 81.4m
40 to 55 X 103 cfs (1133
to 1560 ms/sec) into
Lake Huron
3.2 X 103 cfs into the
Mississippi River
Basin (91 m3/sec)
References
1. Federal Power Commission, Chicago
Office. "Electric Load and Supply
Pattern in the Contiguous United
States," September 1971.
2. Great Lakes Fishery Laboratory.
"Physical and Ecological Effects of
Waste Heat on Lake Michigan," Bur.
of Commercial Fisheries, Ann Arbor,
1970. 101 pp.
3. E. Aynsley, "Cooling-Tower Effects:
Studies Abound," Electrical World, 42-
43 (May 11, 1970).
4. J. Stockham, "Cooling Tower Study,"
Final Report for Contract No. CPA
22-69-122, IITRI Report No. C6187-3,
EPA Air Poll. Cont Office, Durham,
North Carolina, 1971. 116pp.
5. T. J. Overcamp and 1). P. Hoult,
"Precipitation from Cooling Towers in
Cold Climates," Publ. No. 70-7,
Dept. Mech. Eng., M. I. T., Cam-
bridge, Mass., 1970. 30 pp.
6. F. W. Decker, "Report on Cooling
Towers and Weather," FWPCA,
Corvallis, Oregon, 1969. 26 pp.
7. W. C. Colbaugh, J. P. Blackwell, and
J. M. Leavitt. "Interim Report on
Investigation of Cooling Tower Plume
Behavior," T.V.A. Muscle Shoals,
Paper presented at the Amer. Inst.
Chem. Engrs. Cooling Tower Sym-
posium, Houston, Texas (March 3,
1971).
8. F. A. Huff, U. C. Beebe, D. M. A.
Jones, G. M. Morgan, and R. G.
Semonin. "Effect of Cooling Tower
Effluents on Atmospheric Conditions
in Northeastern Illinois/' Illinois
Stale Water Survey, Urbana, Giro.
100, 1971. 37 pp.
9. C. L. Hosier, "Wet Cooling Tower
Plume Behavior," Paper presented at
the Amer. Inst. Chem. Engineers
Cooling Tower Symposium, Houston,
Texas (March 2, 1971).
10. S. R. Hanna and S. D. Swisher,
"Meteorological effects of the heat
and moisture produced by man,"
Nuclear Safety, 12:114 (1970).
11. EG&G, Inc. "Potential Environ-
mental Modifications Produced by
Large Evaporative Cooling Towers,"
EPA WQO, Water Pollution Control
Research Series, Report No. 16130
DNH 01/71, 1970. 76 pp.
12. T. D. Kolfjat,''Thermal Discharges—
An Overview," Paper presented at
American Power Conference, Chicago,
April 20-22, 1971.
13. P. M. Altomore, "The Application of
Meteorology in Determining the En-
vironmental Effects of Evaporative
Heat Dissipation Systems," Paper
presented at 64th Annual Meeting,
Air Pollution Control Assoc., Atlantic
City, June 27-July 1, 1971.
14. W. C. Ackermann, "Research Needs
on Waste Heat Transfer from Large
Sources into the Environment," Illi-
nois State Water Survey Report, Dec.
1971. 37 pp.
15. G. T. Csanady, "Waste Heat Dis-
posal in the Great Lakes," Proc. 13th
Conf. Great, Lakes Res., 388 (1970)
16. G. T. Csanady, W. R. Crawford, and
B. Pade, "Thermal Plume Study at
Douglas Point, Lake Huron, 1970,"
Univ. of Waterloo, 1970. 57 pp.
17. Ayers, J. C., "Remarks on Thermal
Pollution in the Great Lakes," Un-
published report, 8 pp. (1970).
18. J. C. Ayers, "The Climatology of
Lake Michigan," Great Lakes Re-
search Division, University of Michi-
gan, Publication No. 12, 1965. 73 pp.
19. J. P. Longtin, "Temperature Increase
in Lake Michigan due to Thermal
Discharges from Electrical Power
Facilities," Unpublished F.W.P.C.A.
report. (Feb. 1969).
20. J. P. Asbury, "Evaluating the Effects
of Thermal Discharges on the Energy
Budget of Lake Michigan," Argonne
National Laboratory, 1970. 23 pp.
21. R. W. Zeller, H. E. Simison, E. J.
Weathersbee, H. Patterson, G Han-
sen, and P. Hildebrant, "Report on
Trip to Seven Thermal Power Plants."
Prepared for Pollution Control Coun-
cil, Pacific Northwest Area, 1969. 49
pp.
22. F. W. Decker, "Background Study for
Pond Cooling for Industry." Oregon
State Univ., Corvallis, March 1970.
53 pp.
23. G. K. Rodgers, "The Thermal Bar in
Lake Ontario, Spring, 1965 and Win-
ter, 1965-1966." Publ. No. 12, Great
Lakes Res. Div., Univ. of Michigan,
369-374 (1966).
24. W. P. Lowry, "Environmental effects
of nuclear cooling facilities." Bull.
Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 51: 23 (1970).
25. E. W. Hewson, "Moisture pollution of
the atmosphere by cooling towers
and cooling ponds." Bull. Amer.
Meteor. Soc., 51: 21 (1970).
26. D. Brunt, Physical and Dynamical
Met., 2nd Ed., Cambridge Univ.
Press, London, 1944. 428 pp.
27. P. E, Church, "Convection in the
annual temperature cycle of Lake
Michigan," Annals X.Y. Acad. Sci.,
48,789 (1947).
28. V. L. Eichenlaub, "Lake effect snow-
fall to the lee of the Great Lakes: Its
role in Michigan," Bull. Amer.
Meteorol. Soc., 51: 403 (1970).
29. W. M. Culkowski, "An anomalous
snow at Oak Ridge, Tennessee,"
Monthly Weather Review, 90: 194
(1962).
30. Federal Water Quality Administra-
tion. "Feasibility of Alternative
Means of Cooling for Thermal Power
Plants near Lake Michigan." Pre-
pared by National Thermal Pollution
Research Program, Pacific Northwest
Water Laboratory and Great Lakes
Regional Office, U. S. Department of
Interior, 1970. 114pp.
' 31. W. A. Hall, "Elimination of cooling
tower fog from a highway," J. Air
Foil. Contr. Assoc., 12: 379 (1962)
32. A. Blum, "Drizzle precipitation from
water cooling towers," EnyiW'i'f, 186,
128 (1948).
528
Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association
-------
SHOULD THERMAL DISCHARGE INTO LAKE MICHIGAN
BE ALLOWED?
BY
ARTHUR PANCOE
SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR OP:
SOCIETY AGAINST VIOLENCE TO THE ENVIRONMENT
FOR PRESENTATION BEFORE THE RECONVENING OF THE
LAKE MICHIGAN ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE ON SEPTEMBER
19TH, 1972 IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
-------
I am appearing before this Board to tell you why I believe it
is inadvisable to allow thermal infusion into Lake Michigan from
electric generating plants. At this time I will bring before this
Board five major dangers, amongst others, that have not at any time
in previous testimony been accounted for satisfactorily.
One: The first peril I wish to emphasize is the inability of
plankton to withstand the rapid temperature rise across the condenser.
In Dr. Donald W. Pritchard's paper of September, 1970 before the Lake
Michigan Enforcement Conference, supporting the use of Lake Michigan
for cooling water used in generation of power, he discusses in detail
various aspects of the problem, with the ultimate conclusion that
presently proposed plants will have no measurable effect on the overall
Lake temperature. In this I concur. But the subject Dr. Pritchard
deals with in most detail is how to discharge the cooling water in a
way which will allow the most rapid dilution of the thermal plume. Why
is this the major concern of his presentation? I suggest the answer may
be found on the bottom of Page 20 of Dr. Pritchard's report.
"For example, in the case of the Zion Power Station, the time of
transit of the condenser cooling water from the condensers to the point
of discharge will be approximately two minutes. In order to minimize
any possible biological effects of using the surface waters of Lake
-------
- 2 -
Michigan for cooling, the condenser cooling water flow system should
be designed to minimize the time of transit of the heated effluent
from the condensers to the point of discharge." Note: Dr. Pritchard
even though a proponent of using the Lake for once through cooling
purpose, and a Commonwealth Edison witness at the last Conference,
uses the words "minimize any possible biological effects." This
means there is a problem here, and at the very basic level of the
food chain. Since only 10% of the energy radiated to the Lake is
available to man and is manifest at this microscopic level of the
food chain, as we move up the food chain, each level is at most 10%
efficient. We can readily see that we are taking a risk at the most
basic level of life, and the dangers, if we are wrong, are not in-
significant.
On March 21, 1971, during the reconvening of The Lake Michigan
Enforcement Conference, I received a call from Dr. Thomas Roos, the
Biologist of Dartmouth College, who expressed deep concern over the use
of Lake Michigan water for once through cooling. He said that the sud-
den rise of 20° F. across the condenser, in his opinion, will kill most,
if not all, the Phyto and zoo plankton. He stated that the two minutes
of anticipated time that this plankton is exposed to the extremely warm
water may not seem much in the life of an individual, but must be cor-
related to the one and a half or two day life span of the form of life
-------
- 3 -
in question.
He reiterated the danger to the entire Lake's life if harm comes
to this primary level of the Lake's food chain. For further amplification
of this and other concerns of Dr. Ross see letter attached (3)
I might point out that Professor Roos formerly lived on the North
Shore and has an overall familiarity with the Lake.
In their detailed article on waste heat in "Technology Review"
December, 1971, Professor Donald Harleman and Professor Ralph Parsons
of M. I. T. Laboratory for Water Resources dealt with this problem with
the following statement: "Smaller organisms such as zooplanton pass
through the intake - condenser - discharge system. The effect of their
passage depend upon both temperature rise and the time of exposure. Water
temperature increases which approach the sub-lethal range of impaired bio-
logical activity should be avoided. Most states therefor limit both maxi-
mum temperatures and allowable temperature rises, from l^g to 5°F."
It should be noted here that it is estimated that all inshore water
will flow through, on the average, one of those plants three times per
year. To the extent that the Palisades and Bailly Station Plants are
intending to use cooling towers, the magnitude of this problem may be
reduced. It is recognized that the inshore water is biologically the
most productive portion of the Lake, and the biota being drawn through
these plants is the base upon which all fishes, and to some extent fowl,
-------
depend upon for life.
Two: According to Dr. P. F. Gustafson of Argonne National
Laboratory in a paper also presented before The Lake Michigan Enforce-
ment Conference, little, if any,environmental changes can be detected
about the discharge areas from- existing fossil plants operating about
(2)
the Lake. But he goes on to say "but secondary, more subtle, ef-
fects at some distance from the point of input may take place." But
can it be denied that there is an ideal optimum temperature for the
growth of blue-green algae, and such an ideal environment will be
created artificially and rather permanently in a boundary area about
the mixing zone?
This algae has some species which multiply most profusely at 95°F.
(2)
and other species that prefer temperature in the range of 86° F.
This algae is already found in abundance at the Southern end of Lake
Michigan. It is very adaptable and will even grow well within the
plants' cooling systems where the water is at its highest temperature.
Three: Mr. George E. McVehil on behalf of Commonwealth Edison
Company testified before the Illinois Pollution Control Board on Novem-
ber 7, 1970 that if cooling towers were installed at Zion, fog condi-
tions would exist in the Zion area, as the result, various number of
days per year, depending upon the type of towers installed.
I concur in this prediction, but I believe he failed to mention
-------
- 5 -
that similar fogging conditions may very well occur over the Lake in
the area of discharge. That is, a large amount of the heat loss from
the area of thermal plume will be due to increased surface evaporation,
as a result of increased heat. You will note in Dr. Pritchard's testi-
(1)
mony mentioned earlier he specifies that approximately 15% of the
heat lost from the Lake is due to evaporation. While he was discussing
this figure in a different context, its application to my point is
obvious. Also, Dr. Gustafson mentions this problem in a very peripheral
(2)
way in his report.
Heat is dissipated from water surface by evaporation, radiation
and conduction, and the percentage of the total heat dissipation by
evaporation increases as the temperature of the water surface increases
above its natural state. For a water surface at 5° F. above equilibrium,
the heat lost by evaporation is about one-third of total. Naturally,
in winter the percent of heat lost by evaporation will be radically
higher than this figure.
Should the fogging over the Lake be less intense than above towers,
but cover more area, the total effect on the environment of say, Zion,
might be more extreme than in the case of towers.
Four: In lakes and ponds (lentic environments) the biota is
synchronized in its life cycles by changes in water temperatures. If
man in a major way distorts this very finally turned gradual and seq-
-------
- 6 -
uential mechanism of the inshore waters in the spring of the year, the
consequence may be far more dramatic than we can even envision. For
a detailed description of this possible danger, I refer you to a pre-
vious paper I presented before The Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference,
September, 1970, with special reference to a paper attached to that
report, by J. J. Resia of the Department of Biological Sciences,
CO
Northwestern University,
Five: The last point I wish to bring up is what I believe to be
an erroneous idea that now, or in the future, will it be possible to
isolate, for example, heat alone, as a specific contributor to the
death of Lake Michigan.
Synergism: The detrimental effects of heat, chemical fertilizers,
chemical pollutants, sewage, bacteria, and solid wastes being discharged
into the Lake may very well in combination be far more disastrous to the
Lake than the study of any one of the perils alone might suggest.
If damage does occur from the heat, it will be subtle at first and
may not make itself manifest for years or even decades into the future.
Damage will be accumulative, as Lake Michigan does not have a rapid
changeover of water. I also suggest that at no time will it be provable
that heat alone is responsible for the damage.
In a statement to me on March 21, 1971 Professor Arthur D. Hasler,
of the University of Wisconsin, one of the world's outstanding lim-
-------
- 7 -
nologisis, expressed deep concern over the direction we are going
with regard to disposing large amounts of heat into the Lake. He
stated to me that he would much prefer to see this heat disposed of
into the atmosphere at this time.
I would like to conclude by requesting that this Board adapt a
standard allowing no thermal discharge into Lake Michigan from new
electric generating plants, either under construction now, or planned
for the future, since alternative means of distribution of the heat
are available.
Arthur Pancoe
Scientific Director
Reference (1) Title: Statement on Temperature Standards for Lake
Michigan by Dr. Donald W. Prirchard, September, 1970 before The Lake
Michigan Enforcement Conference.
Reference (2) Title: Thermal Discharges and Lake Michigan by
Dr. P. F. Gustafson, September, 1970, also before The Lake Michigan
Enforcement Conference.
-------
Dartmouth College HANOVER. • NEW HAMPSHIP^ 01755
Department of Biological Sciences • tat. (603) 646-3378
22 March 1971
Reconvened Third Session of Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference
c/o Mr, Arthur Pancoe
1030 South Waboph Avanuw
Chicago, Illinois 60605
Gentlemen:
The proposed use of Lake Michigan on-shore surface water as a coolant for
power-generating nuclear reactors poses a potential threat to the lake
for at least two reasons: damage to surface plankton and long-term thermal
disturbance.
Constant cycling1 -of virtually all on-shore surface waters through the
reactors will expose sensitive planktonic organisms, both plant and animal,
to a profound thermal shock. Although their duration at elc-. . •! temper-
atures will be short in terms of a human life, even two to fi\ u minutes is
long in the life of a single-cell organism. The process of cell division,
necessary for cell continuity requires only five to thirty minutes, depen*.
ding on the species. Planktonic organisms have evolved in a relatively
stable environment, in which temperature changes arc slow or absent.
Indeed, many minute plants and animals use small (less than two degree)
fluctuations in temperature as signals for developmental change. Bri^f
exposure to elevated temperatures is sufficiently likely to produce change
in organism physiology and maturation to warrant a detailed study of the^
effects of temperature on all of the organisms involved in the specific
waters to be affected. I know of no such detailed study on Lake Michigan
plankton, but one whould be done before risking major, permanent damage.
It should be emphasized that the surface algae are the sole base of the
food chain on which all lake animal life depends: a reduction in available
fixed carbon (i. e. starch and cellulose) will propagate proportionally
through the entire ecological pyramid.
Thermal pollution itself poses a special problem for the Lake Michigan
basin. The V-shaped profile of the lake favors a high thermocline, with
a shallow layer of warm water overlying a deep mass of cold water: mixing
between these two water masses is slow. Complete turnover requires 10,000
years in Lake Michigan. Calculations of heat dissipation must take into ac-
count only this limited mass of available diluent water, and not the entire
water volume. It is even possible that adding to the heat of the surface
layer will slow doen water turnover, intensify thermal stratification, and
spedd the process of deoxygenation of the lake bottom.
I hope that this letter expresses the tiasis of my concern as a biologist
for the planned use of Lake Michigan. The potential damage is great and
irreversible. I doubt that adequate information is available to prove that
the changes will be benign: such changes ought not be made until their
safety is ascertained.
Thomas D. RODS, Associate
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SOCIETY
C.M:.'5T VIOLENCE
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"One thing which definitely is nat n&Pripd in DIP feyr^pnt debates
over effects of waste heat from nuclear power plants on Lake
Michigan is another biologist who takes the position of an advocate.
I therefore must preface my following remarks with a brief bit-
of philosophy.
With few significant exceptions, predictions of resultant harm
to the Lake's biota are honestly debatable. When specialists in
pertinent fields disagree, the issues become quite clouded and
confusing to the public. The clouds part a bit, though, if the
layman keeps two things in mind.
First, the empirical, inductive method to which modern
science is wedded never "proves" or disproves" anything. No
matter how dogmatically some scientific "truths" often are taught,
it must be remembered that at the philosophical foundation of
scientific method is a rule which says that the most an investigator
can hope to accomplish by his experimental results and interpre-
tations is to cause on'e hypothesis or another to seem more or less
likely to be true. Hence, competent scientists, honestly attempting
Lto be objective, can and often do disagree.
This brings us to the second point. The current environmental
quality crusades in general and the nuclear power plant controver-
sies in particular have seen too many scientists showing too little
regard for objectivity. Abuses of this nature seem to come from
both sides of almost every confrontation. It can be maddening
for a scientist to try to refute a less idealistic oponent's "absolute
certainties" with wishy-washy "it appears thats" and "the data
suggest thats. " Nevertheless, scientists and engineers who my-
opically pander either to their employers' vested interests on the
one hand or to crowd response on the other do service to no one
and, I fear, are going to learn that in the long run, their credibility
and that of their profession is as fragile as it is valuable.
Granted the above, I would like to describe a problem which I
feel has not yet been given any real attention by those about to decid
what can and can not be done with waste heat in Lake Michigan.
In the temperate latitudes in which we live, organisms are
forced to adjust their life cycles to the rigors of changing seasons.
Mother Nature has been very fussy about compliance, and those
species which failed to synchronize became evolutionary drop-outs.
One well-known environmental cue that is widely used by plants
and animals as & season-indicator is photoperiod, the changing
length of the day. Thus, many birds,~Tor~exampTe, are "told"
when their gonads should ripen, when they should mate, and when t!
should fallen up and migrate by the lengthening or shortening day-
light hours,
For terrestrial organisms, as well as for those which are
found in rivers and streams (lotic environments), photoperiod
-------
SOCIETY
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PAGE 2
is a cue far more trustworthy than temperature. For the biota of
lakes and ponds (lentic environments), however, seasonal temper-
ature changes usually are pretty consistent (especially in large
lakes), and it is well-known that for many lentic species (notably,
fishes), water temperature plays the principal role in seasonal
synchronization.
Since the effects of thermal discharges, present and proposed,
on the overall temperatures of Lake Michigan can be considered
insignificant (which, possibly, is why Commonwealth Edison
spokesmen have mentioned them so often), and since the plumes
of heated water will be small in relation to total Lake area, it is
not immediately evident that a significant proportion of any popu-
lation in the Lake could be affected adversely.
There is more to the story, however. In the first place, the
littoral (nearshore) areas of any large body of water are by'far
"the most biologically important. In these littoral areas, Nature
provides light and nutrients in relative abundance, and productivity
is high. Since populations always produce more offspring than
the environment can support, and since the principal limiting
factor in the survival of offspring of most aquatic animals is
food availability, natural selection Has "taught" the great majority
of species to reproduce in littoral waters. Thus, these near-
shore areas, into which the nuclear plant effluents are to be
directed, see a lot more biological traffic than comparable off-
shore areas. Included in this relatively congested situation are
those fishes which are spawning, those which have been spawned,
and those predators desirous of eating spawner or spawnee.
We understand, then, that biomass is relatively large in the
general vicinity of the proposed heated effluents^But the story
goes further. Most animals have preferred temperatures. This
means that their activity is less at one temperature than at any
other. In fishes, for example, an individual's preferred tempera-
ture depends on such factors as species, previous thermal history,
a6e» physiological state, time of day and year, and many other things
known and unknown, but it may be generalized that, if a group of
similar fish are placed in a thermal gradient, they will tend to
congregate at their preferred temperature in a sore of "gapers'
block" effeqt.
I have heard the advocates of "thermal enrichment" speak
enthusiastically of fishing "hot spots" produced by power plant
discharges. Such phenomena are produced when ambient water
temperatures are below the preferred temperature of fish in the
general vicinity of a heated plume. When the fish congregate at
their preferred temperature in the gradient caused by the plume,
a fisherman's bonanza results.
But there may be a catch to this. I have already discussed
why fishes tend to be in the general vicinity of the thermal plumes,
and how they can tend to move to positions in the plumes where
temperatures are above ambient. Such situations already exist
-------
SOCIETY
;/.::;cr VIOLENCE
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PAGE_3
on small scale in Lake Michigan. But if to these considerations
we add the proposals for a growing number of large discharges
from nuclear plants, we must conclude that greater percentages
of the Lake's fish populations would be spending greater amounts
of time at temperatures above ambient.
Besides having other, more well-known, physiological effects,
water temperature (as mentioned previously) is the principal
seasonal timer for many species of fish. In effect, prr ._* . .isive
changes in the ambient temperature of the Lake "tell" a lish
when to begin and complete gonadal development, when to feed,when
to migrate, and when to spawn. Thus, each species of fish is
influenced to perform some or all of these activities at a time of
the year most advantageous for- survival of the population. It
must be noted that the physical characteristics of the season ai-e
not the only reasons why timing is important. Spawning, for ex-
ample, must be performed simultaneously by the greatest possible
proportion of the population, for maximum efficiency, and the lar-
vae must latch in synchrony with the often ephemeral availability
of important food species (which also are influenced by tempera-
ture).
Add to all o'f these considerations the complex, seasonally-
variable food-web interactions in the Lake, and one begins to
understand the validity of questions raised about fishes spending
time in the proposed "hot spots" rather than in waters of ambient
temperatures. The temperature a fish "likes" bears no necessary
resemblance to the temperature that is good for survival of its
population.
I have heard attempts by some to defend calefaction on the
grounds that elevated temperatures have no adverse effects on
certain aquatic animals from arctic or tropical latitudes. I have
also heard it mentioned that in certain fish culture practices,
people spend money to heat ponds to increase yield. In answer
to the latter, it should be noted that such people also have to feed
the fish in those cultures. Cultures are not ecosystems. Arid in
answer to both, we need only keep in mind that we are concerned
with temperate latitude fishes trying to stay alive and obtain food
in a temperate latitude lake.
Finally, I wish that discussions of ecological effects of waste
heat could rise above naive considerations of what is lethal to
adult fishes. There's more than one way to skin a population,
and knocking out reproduction sounds to me as though it might be
fairly effective. "
J. J. Resia
Department of Biological Sciences
Northwestern University
-------
399
1 P. Gustafson
2 MR. CURRIE: Dr. Gustafson.
3
4 STATEMENT OF DR. PHILIP F. GUSTAFSON,
5 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF RADIOLOGICAL
6 AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH,
7 ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY,
ARGONNE, ILLINOIS
9
10 DR. GUSTAFSON: Mr. Chairman, conferees, and
11 remaining participants. I am Philip F. Gustafson, Argonne
12 National Laboratory, Associate Director of the Division of
13 Radiological and Environmental Research at the Laboratory,
and coordinator of our Great Lakes Research Program,
As I think most everything that I have to say has
been said already, but what I am going to say is fairly
brief anyway, and having stuck it out this long, I am going
lg to go ahead. (Laughter)
As you all know, in its past several sessions, the
20 Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference has dealt with the
2i problem of setting thermal effluent standards which will
22 maintain the ecology of Lake Michigan in its present or,
23 hopefully, even in an improved state, and yet allow the lake
24 to be used for a multiplicity of purposes which are of
benefit to mankind*
-------
900
, P. Gustafson
2 The principal obstacle to reaching agreement on
o thermal standards has been the question of what biological
• effects will occur as a result of large electrical generat-
5 ing stations, particularly nuclear stations, using once-
5 through cooling on the lake. There is some feeling that
7 until this question can be answered completely, no further
# discharges should be permitted. Paradoxically, the answer
9 can only be obtained by field studies in the lake, not by
10 laboratory studies or computer simulations.
11 For the past 3 years, Argonne National Laboratory
12 has been conducting physical and biological research on
13 thermal discharges into Lake Michigan under its Great Lakes
14 Research Program, These thermal studies have centered about
15 some of the large fossil~fueled stations, and have included
16 the three nuclear plants now in operation on the lake. We
17 have also examined the results of other researchers on Lake
18 Michigan and the other Great Lakes as part of our total
19 program. The conclusion that we have come to, on the basis
20 I of our own work and that of others, is that there is no
21 evidence of unacceptable ecological effects due to present
22 thermal discharges, even on a local scale.
23 This does not mean that there are not biological
responses directly attributable to the warm water —
attraction of fish to the thermal plume, for example. It
-------
901
•j_ P. Gustafson
2 does not mean that fish acclimated to the higher than
•3 ambient temperatures in the thermal plume may not be injured
4 or killed by a sudden shutdown of the plant, particularly
5 in cold weather* It also does not mean that a substantial
6 amount of entrained biota passing through the cooling system
7 will not be damaged or killed; however, increased productivity
8 due to increased temperature partially replaces this loss.
9 What our conclusion does mean is that the total
10 impact of these various factors will not produce changes
11 which are irreversible or irreparable in the physical and
12 biological state of those portions of Lake Michigan now
13 subject to thermal discharges. Since the local impact is
14 tolerable, the lakewide or system impact is also acceptable.
15 Furthermore, on the basis of present knowledge we believe
16 that the operation of powerplants now under construction on
17 the shores of Lake Michigan will also have an acceptable
1# impact on the local or system ecology if operated with
19 once-through cooling.
20 i think that there is, by and large, general
21 agreement on the part of the participants in the Enforcement
22 Conference that the real concern is not the present thermal
additions to Lake Michigan, or even the incremental addition
of the generating facilities now under construction; rather
it is the prospect of addition upon addition which the
-------
902
P. Gustafson
future may bring with our present rate of regional growth
and power needs. In order to answer this concern before it
becomes a reality, we must determine the present state of the
lake in general and understandable terms, determine the
long-term, long-range effect of present and soon-to-operate
thermal discharges, and to then determine at what point the
long-range effects have an unacceptable influence on the
9 entire lake or a significant portion thereof.
10 Considerable research is under way on Lake Michigan
11 to provide data which can answer these questions. Some of
12 it is supported by Federal agencies such as AEC and EPA,
13 some by State agencies, and an increasing amount by utility
14 companies.
15 Certainly the greatest return on the money being
16 spent on research will be attained if these efforts are
17 coordinated— coordinated in the sense that standardized
18 techniques in sampling and data acquisition are employed,
I
19 and standard analytical methods used so that results from
20 one group to another or one site to another will be com-
21 patible.
;
22 Such coordination could be done through an Envir-
23 onmental Assessment Committee — call it what you will ~
24 such as was proposed by the Technical Committee at a pre-
I
25 ! vious session of the Enforcement Conference* I would like
-------
903
P. Gustafson
to propose that the Enforcement Conference consider sponsor-
ing such a committee. The logical members of such a group
are already active participants in the conference. The
5 committee should include representatives from involved
6 Federal and State agencies, the academic community, industry
7 — particularly the electric utilities — environmental
groups, and I would hope that Argonne might also be a par-
9 ticipant.
10 In addition to the coordinating role, the committee
11 could review and interpret results, suggest new avenues of
12 investigation, and even engage in the development and test-
13 ing of a systems model of the entire lake. Perhaps a start-
14 ing point for the latter would be the preparation of a
15 Regional Environmental Impact Statement, which would be
16 essentially the type of impact statements that are being
17 prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act for
nuclear powerplants. Such a NEPA-type statement for the
19 entire lake would involve the combined effects of man's
20 activities upon the lake. This would be a most useful
21 document with which to assess future courses of action not
22 only in thermal but in terms of chemical pollutants as
23 well. Working cooperatively, I think we can accomplish much
more than we can ever hope to do independently.
25 Lake Michigan is a valuable multiple use resource
-------
904
P. Gustafson
2 which with wise management can provide perhaps even more
3 benefit to future generations. If we use our talents
properly, we can develop and conduct a regional study which
5 will serve as a demonstration to other areas of our Nation,
6 MR. BRISON: I have to ask one question,
7 DR. GUSTAFSON: Yes*
MR. BRYSON: Some time ago, didn't Argonne under-
9 take to form such a group in cooperation with the various
10 studies going on around the lake involving the various
11 utility companies? Whatever happened to that effort?
12 DR. GUSTAFSON: Well, we still work cooperatively
13 with a number of utilities and with EPA and with the univer-
14 sity people. But it is — well, I would say this: that
15 cooperation, coordination — particularly coordination —
16 is a fulltime job. And I find that more and more as our own
17 work goes on we tend to lose track on a day-to-day basis,
which is really, I think, very essential — we lose this as
19 we get further into our own work. And what we sort of need
20 is an overseeing body that will do the coordinating more
21 tightly than we can,
22 MR. BRYSON: Good point,
DR. GUSTAFSONi But I think we have — and I am
very pleased to see the use made of — data which Argonne
has acquired, and the degree to which we have, I think, in
-------
905
-j_ P. Gustafson
2 a relatively short time, become reasonably proficient in
3 some of these things. I would hope that we could continue
4 to do this and we have tried to — with our still fairly
5 limited resources, when we know that somebody is going to
6 do an experiment somewhere — throw our resources in, too,
7 with the feeling, and I think the correct feeling, that we
$ get a lot more out of it the more parameters, the more people
9 that are looking at something,
10 But I would hope that this could grow and perhaps
11 this conference is a means of promoting such growth. I know
12 we all have this feeling that t what is the future going to
13 bring? And how are we going to assess — well, I have used
14 the term — "acceptable" damage or "unacceptable" damage,
15 because I have gotten so tired of trying to defend what is
16 "significant" and what is "insignificant,"
17 So this is sort of pushing it on a stage further,
l£ i realize, but that is something we have got to determine,
19 Is it a powerplant or is it one fish or what is it? And I
20 think that this is — as has been said before — partly a
21 social problem; it's partly a technical problem. And it is
22 something that I think can be ironed out, but we have got
23 to do it some way. It is sort of late for philosophy, I
2A- guess, (Laughter)
2 5 MR. FRANCOS: Dr. Gustafson.
-------
906
-^ P» Gustafson
2 DR. GUSTAFSON: Yes.
•2 MR. FRANCOS: It is late for a couple of questions.
• But is it correct that it was your group that prepared the
5 report that appeared in the EPA document that was distributed
5 prior to the convening of this session?
7 DR. GUSTAFSON: Yes, it was some of the people
# from Argonne, right.
9 MR. FRANCOS: Were you associated with that, or
10 was it done under your direction?
11 DR. GUSTAFSON: It was actually done under Bart
12 Hogan's direction, and I looked over the document as it was
13 being prepared but did not have a truly active role in its
14 preparation.
15 MR. FRANCOS: Is this statement that you are making
16 here this evening in any way an official position of the
17 Argonne National Laboratory?
13 DR. GUSTAFSON: Essentially it is the position of
19 the people at the Laboratory engaged in Great Lakes research.
20 MR. FRANGOS: Thank you.
21 MR. MAYO: Is that the conclusion of the Illinois
2? !
f-f- presentation, Mr. Currie?
MR. CURRIE: Yes.
MR. MAYO: Mr. Frangos.
25 MR. FRANGOS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, conferees,
-------
907
E. James
and holdoutSo (Laughter)
Unaccustomed as I am to making presentations at
11:15 p.m. in the evening, I do want to make a standing
request, Mr. Mayo, for the record, that in any future con-
5 ferences, symposia, meetings, colloquia, or hearings that
y may be conducted or sponsored by your Agency, that the order
of appearance of States be determined by lottery conveyance,
9 (Laughter and applause)
10 Having said that, I will defer attempting to sum-
11 inarize the State of Wisconsin's statement but rather proceed
12 with those who have indicated that they wish to make a
13 statement, and then I will get back to the Wisconsin state-
14 raent,
15 With that, I would like to call upon a representa-
16 tive of the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation.
17
STATEMENT OF EVANS W. JAMES, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,
19 WISCONSIN PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION,
20 GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
21 (AS READ BY CHARLES J. MARNELL)
22
23 . MR. MARNELLs Mr. Chairman, conferees, and those
24 who have endured. My name is Charles Marnell. I am employed
25 by Pioneer Service and Engineering, and I am here to represerr
-------
90S
E. James
2 Mr, Evans James of Wisconsin Public Service, I am here to
3 read the statement prepared by Mr, Evans James,
4 Wisconsin Public Service Corporation is a Wiscon-
5 sin public utility engaged in the production, transmission
6 and distribution of electricity and the purchase and dis-
7 tribution of natural gas* Its service area is located in
northeastern Wisconsin and Menominee County, Michigan, Its
9 principal office is located in Green Bay, Wisconsin,
10 This utility has an interest in three electric
11 generating plants which are affected by rules governing
12 thermal discharges into Lake Michigan, It wholly owns and
13 operates the Pulliam fossil-fired steam plant at Green Bay
14 located at the confluence of the Fox River and Green Bay,
15 It has a minority interest with Wisconsin Power & Light
Company in the Edgewater fossil-fired steam plant at Sheboygar
17 on the shores of Lake Michigan, The Edgewater plant is
operated by Wisconsin Power & Light Company, This utility
together with Wisconsin Power & Light Company and Madison
20 Gas & Electric Company shares ownership in the Kewaunee
nuclear generating plant now under construction on the
22
west shore of Lake Michigan, It is in charge of the con-
struction of the Kewaunee plant and will operate it when it
2L
* is expected to go on line in the fall of 1973,
25
This brief statement will be directed to the
-------
909
I E. James
2 Pulliam and Kewaunee plants only since these are or will
3 be operated by this company.
4 As this conference knows, the Wisconsin Department
5 of Natural Resources on December 6, 1971, established thermal
6 standards for Lake Michigan, such standards to become effec-
7 tive on February 1, 1972. Subsequently, on March 29, 1972,
8 the Department issued guidelines for environmental studies
9 to be undertaken at Lake Michigan thermal discharge sites.
10 These standards and guidelines affect both the Pulliam and
11 Kewaunee plants.
12 It should first be noted that with respect to
13 Kewaunee, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation had under-
14 taken comprehensive studies of the environment surrounding
15 the Kewaunee site well in advance of the establishment of
16 standards by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
17 As a matter of fact, these comprehensive studies have been
13 under way the past 3 years and have encompassed extensive
19 examination of air, water, and food sources.
20 Following the issuance of the standards and the
21 guidelines, this utility has prepared and presented to the
22 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources study plans for
both Pulliam and Kewaunee and these plans have been approved
2Zf subject to continuing review by the Department. While the
Kewaunee studies were begun in advance of the creation of
-------
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
21
23
25
910
E. James
the Department's guidelines, the future program at Kewaunee
will be modified to the degree necessary to meet the guide-
lines. The studies at Pulliam are beginning this fall based
on the approved study program.
Since the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
has laid down specific measures for studying the effect of
thermal discharges into Lake Michigan, and since this utility
has invested and will continue to invest substantial sums of
money in the required studies, it now urgently requests this
conference to hold in abeyance any rules which would inter-
fere with the operation of any plant now operating or under
construction on Lake Michigan until the data being accumula-
ted has been secured and studied. Only in that way can
judgment based on fact rather than theory reasonably be
made. To follow any other procedure would be grossly wasteful
of time and money and would interfere with a well conceived
and efficiently managed program which will produce a sound
basis for establishing any environmental controls which may
20 be found necessary,
I will briefly describe the programs under way at
22 | Kewaunee and Pulliam for your information.
At Kewaunee, a preoperational radiological moni-
toring program was begun in September 1969 by Industrial
Bio-Test Laboratories, Inc. of Northbrook, Illinois for the
-------
911
1 E» James
2 primary purpose of establishing baseline data for airborne
radioisotopes which naturally occur from atomic testing,
A meteorological program was started in August 196$ under
5 the management of NUS of Washington, B.C. for the purpose of
6 securing 2 years of meteorological data to satisfy the
7 Atomic Energy Commission's licensing requirements. The
company continued to gather meteorological data following
9 the expiration of the 2-year period until in June 1972, a
10 meteorological program was developed with Bio-Test for it
11 to assess the best available data concerning radioactive
12 airborne releases, A series of studies was begun in 1969
13 by the University of Michigan and its environmental research
14 group to assess the normal background of radioisotopes
15 which occur throughout Lake Michigan in plant (phytoplankton)
16 and animal (zooplankton and fish) sediments. This study is
17 continuing to determine the food change relationship between
fish and man. Another program was begun in 1971 known as
19 the Helgeson Nuclear Lake Bottom Study, which consisted of
20 mapping the lake bottom at the Kewaunee site for natural
21 occurring radionuclides in order to get appropriate baseline
22 data. This mapping study was carried out twice in 1971,
23 in addition to the above, Bio-Test and University of Wis-
consin-Milwaukee are each performing studies to determine
25 Kewaunee's interaction with Lake Michigan. I have available
-------
912
E. James
an outline of these studies which identifies the nature and
frequency of them and will be glad to produce them for the
conference's information if desired. I will place them in
the record as A and B.
6 MR. MAYO: Fine.
7 MR. MARNELL: Thank you.
(The documents above referred to follow in their
9 entirety.)
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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Wisconsin Public Service Corp,
Exhibit B
TABLE I
FREQUENCY OF FIELD SAMPLING
BY CATEGORY
Sampling Period - 1972'
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Category
Water Column Profile
Lake Currents-
Water Quality
Bacteriology
Phytoplankton
Zooplankton
Periphyton
Benthos
Fish
Mav
xxi'
X
XX
XX
XX
XX
X
X
XX
July
XX
X
XX
XX
XX
XX
X
X
XX
Sept.
XX
X
XX
XX
XX
XX
X
X
XX
Nov.
XX
X
XX
XX
XX
XX
X
X
XX
— XX = Two independent samplings during the quarter.
— Certain aspects will be monitored on a continuous basis.
-------
1
2
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
913
E. James
MR. MARNELL: These University of Wisconsin-Mil-
waukee studies began in 1969 and the Bio-Test studies began
in 1971.
At the Pulliam plant, the environmental quality
water studies will follow closely the Department of Natural
Resources' guidelines. Temperature measurements and infra-
red photos of the thermal plume will be taken in order to
evaluate the plume dimensions. Fish will be collected to
determine the numbers, species, length, weight, and age.
The benthic organisms, phytoplankton and zooplankton samples
will be collected in replicate from permanent sample loca-
tions. Continuous monitoring of the intake and discharge
water temperatures will be undertaken as well as continuous
monitoring of the discharge for pH and dissolved oxygen.
Dissolved oxygen and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) profile
will be determined in conjunction with the temperature
profile study. The intake and discharge will be analyzed
to determine their various chemical constituents including
copper, calcium, zinc, specific conductance, sodium,
potassium, fluoride, sulfate, silicon, color turbidity,
ammonia, total phosphorus, soluble phosphorus, chlorides,
magnesium, pH, hardness, alkalinity, mercury, boron, arsenic,
iron, chromium, nickel, lead, and manganese. The residual
^ chlorine in the discharge water will be determined by using
-------
914
1 E. James
2 the amperometric procedure. A permanent record will be kept
of a summarization of the total amounts, frequency, and volumo
of chemicals discharged to the water
5 I believe this description of our programs empha-
6 sizes the depth and great extent of the environmental studies
7 being undertaken. I again urge that the value of these
studies not be destroyed by any change in procedures. The
9 standards and guidelines issued by the Wisconsin Department
10 of Natural Resources should be pursued and their results used
11 in making a final determination.
12 That concludes the statement.
13 MR. MAYO: Any questions, gentlemen?
14 MR. MARNELL: Mr. Chairman, I have to defer from
15 any questions as I am not prepared to answer them for Mr.
16 Evans James.
17 MR. MAYO: Thank you.
MR. MARNELL: But I would refer any questions
19 that you have to him.
20 MR. MAYO: Thank you for the statement.
21 MR. FRANCOS: Miss Sarah Jenkins of the Sierra
22 club.
23
24
25
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91$
, ,
S. Jenkins
2
3 STATEMENT OF SARAH JENKINS, MEMBER,
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, JOHN MUIR CHAPTER,
5 SIERRA CLUB, MADISON, WISCONSIN
6
7 MISS JENKINS: Mr. Chairman, conferees, and
holdouts.
9 My name is Sarah Jenkins, and I am from Madison,
10 Wisconsin. I am speaking for the Sierra Club national
11 organization.
12 My background is that I have got a Bachelor's
13 Degree in Physics and a Master's in Biophysics, and I have
14 been studying energy for work on a second Master's since
15 June of 1970. I have been on the John Muir Chapter Execu-
16 tive Board since January of this year.
17 Sierra Club is interested in problems involving
nuclear powerplants on Lake Michigan because along with
19 Businessmen for the Public Interest we have intervened on
20 several of the plants. We have actually intervened on
21 Palisades and on Point Beach 1, and along with Businessmen
22 for the Public Interest we have filed to intervene on Point
Beach 1, Zion 1 and 2, Donald C. Cook 1 and 2.
Sierra Club is concerned about the effect of
powerplants on Lake Michigan because we feel that the evidence
-------
916
S. Jenkins
2 from the studies being conducted on the lake is not in yet,
•3 and we don't believe that the data gathered from laboratory
studies is particularly promising. It does show that there
5 are biological effects. We do not like using the lake as
6 a laboratory. We are unwilling to gamble with the integrity
7 of the Lake Michigan ecosystem.
We feel that the decisions that this conference
9 is going to make will create an important precedent and we
10 are worried about the type of decision that will be made
11 here.
12 It is extremely easy — as Mr, McDonald was point-
13 ing out earlier today — to say that you can go on line now,
14 and when we see signs of damage you will have to come off
15 line. But the problem comes: What are the signs of damage
16 when you decide that you are going to have to put in closed—
17 cycle cooling?
It is particularly difficult if the plant has been
19 operating for, say, half its expected lifetime to insist that
20 somebody spend a great deal of money to put in closed-~cycle
cooling because it is difficult to amortize the cost.
22 We are worried, as Dr. Gustafson commented, about
the problem of the projected growth of powerplant use of Lake
Michigan for cooling water. The base that is being doubled
is getting increasingly large -- the base of electric power
-------
917
S. Jenkins
2 generation — and so the effects are becoming more and more
3 serious.
4 We have some disagreement with the projections for
5 growth in demand, based on data presented at a Sierra Club
6 conference in Vermont last January — data indicating that
7 we may not need as much power in the future for installing
mass transit and sewage treatment as some people very glibly
9 said we might.
10 We believe that whatever standards are set should
11 apply to all large powerplants, should apply to all power-
12 plants built since January 1, 1971; that these standards
13 should require high quality monitoring; that if closed-
14 cycle cooling systems are to be required that the micro-
1$ meteorology surrounding where the cooling towers are being
put up must be accurately surveyed. At this point, the exact
17 effects of such cooling towers of the size projected is not
known and until the studies are made it will be difficult to
evaluate the actual environmental trade-offs between cooling
towers and once-through cooling.
We also feel that this issue is part of broader
29
questions that are really societal questions and not bio-
technical decisions.
O l
Three questions are basically:
25
1. How much power does our society and this Lake
-------
913
1 S. Jenkins
2 Michigan region really need?
3 2. When do the environmental and societal costs
4 of continued growth of energy use exceed the benefits?
5 3. Who is and who should be deciding these
6 questions?
7 Members of the Sierra Club believe that these
8 matters should be the subject of inform public debate and
9 that the informed debate should be informed because the facts
10 have been made public,
11 Thank you.
12 MR. MAYO: Thank you, Miss Jenkins.
13 MR. McDONALD: I think your point about backfitting
14 on a plant that has been used half its life is a very good
15 point. We run into this, and I am sure we are going to run
16 into it more as we go after the industrial plants — the
17 steel mills, the oil companies — they are all old. Hardly
1& a plant that has been in business doesn't age very rapidly
19 as far as treatment systems are concerned.
20 (The documents submitted by Ms. Jenkins following
21 the conference follow in their entirety.)
22
23
24
25
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SIERRA CLUB
by Ansel Adams in This Is tht American Earth
Mills Tower, San Francisco 94104
Midwest Office
444 West Main Street
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 257-4994
Sept. 26, 1972
Mr. Francis T. Mayo
Regional Administrator
Region V
Environmental Protection Agency
One North Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
Dear Mr. Mayo:
The enclosed is a written version of my comments last
Thursday night at the Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference.
It may clarify some of the points I made then.
Could these written comments be included in the written
record of the conference?
Thank you for your attention.
SJ:mh
Sincerely,
Sarah Jenkins
Member, Executive Committe
John Muir Chapter of the
Sierra Club
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Mills Tower, San Francisco 94104
by Ansel Adams in This Is tht American Earth
SIERRA CLUB STATEMENT
MADE TO
THE LAKE MICHIGAN ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE
September 21, 1972
Statement made by Sarah Jenkins
Mr. Chairman, Conferees, and Holdouts.
My qualifications are a bachelor's degree in physics, a master's
in biophysics, and I have been studying energy problems for the
past two years in connection with writing a second master's thesis
I have been on the John Muir Chapter (Sierra Club) executive board
since January 1972.
Sierra Club has been involved in the problems associated with sit-
ing electric power plants on Lake Michigan since the first inter-
vention at Palisades. Sierra Club has been one of the intervenors
in the Palisades and Point Beach II cases, and along with Business
men for the Public Interest has filed for intervention in Point
Beach I, Zion I and II, and Donald C. Cook I and II.
The Sierra Club is concerned about the effects of discharge of
vast quantities of heated water into Lake Michigan. We are aware
that the results of field studies of the lake are not in yet, but
the evidence from laboratory studies of the effects of heat upon
organisms is not very promising. It could be a long time before we
notice the effects of the discharge of the heated water. Whenever
there are long time delays between cause and effect, it is possible
for the effects to be serious before their existence is noticed.
We do not want Lake Michigan to be treated as a laboratory.
We are unwilling to gamble with the integrity of the Lake Michigan
ecosystem.
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•2-
We would prefer that in this case, any errors in standards
be made on the side of caution.
Whatever decision is reached by the conferees will set an
important precedent affecting the future uses of Lake Michigan.
Because of this, we would be very worried about a decision that
says that heat may be discharged . co the lake until such time
as signs of damage appear, at Wi) .ch time devices to control the
discharge of heat must be backf i..tt_d. I would like to emphasize
a point made earlier by Mr. McDonald it is too easy to question
what constitutes evidence of damage. Will it be the first ten-
tative signs of ecosystem change or a major change? Further, it
. always possible to say that whatever changes are being seen are
re ' ;y due to another cause such as fertilizers being applied to
land and washed into the lake.
The other problem with a decision requiring backfitting arises
if a plant has been operating for 10-20 years and will only be in
operation Cor a further 10 years. Then it can be argued that the
cost of backfitting will be too great when amortized over the re-
maining life )i; the plant. The argument becomes - we will install
contro] equipiti'-' it in new plants but it is too costly to backf it
existing planes,
Case-by-case decisions then become completely arbitrary, not
based on scientific evidence. It is arbitrary to say that equip-
ment must be built into new plants but does not have to be back-
fitted to existing plants.
We are concerned about this decision as a precedent because of
the enormous rate of growth of the electric power industry. As the
base amount of energy which is doubled by exponential growth in-
creases, the consequences of short doubling times become more serious.
We do not entirely agree with projections of demand for electricity
into the future. At the Vermont Power Conference (sponsored by Sierra
Club in Johnson, Vermont, January 14-15, 1972) a paper was presented
which questions two of the reasons given for needing vast amounts of
more power in the future - mass transit and sewage treatment. In
both cases, the increased demand was two per cent once in 30 years
compared with the present growth rate of seven per cent per year
(which equals 800 per cent in 30 years) . Residential and commercial
demand for electricity will be very sensitive to changes in codes
for lighting and insulation, and to the extent of further growth of
electrical heating.
Whatever standards are set by this conference should include
the following points: they should apply to all large power plants,
and to all plants built since January 1, 1971. Further the stand-
ards should require high quality monitoring of the ecosystem ad-
jacent to the power plant. If closed cycle cooling systems are re-
quired then the micrometeorological effects of such systems must be
studied. Prediction and evaluation of the trade-offs between the
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-3-
effects of once-through cooling and closed cycle cooling will not
be possible without better data on their actual effects.
The Sierra Club believes that the issue of discharge of heat
to Lake Michigan is part of three broader questions:
1. How much power does our society and this Lake Michigan region
really need?
2. When do the environmental and societal costs of continued
growth of energy use exceed the benefits?
3. Who is and who should decide these questions? We in the
Sierra Club believe that these matters should be the subject
of informed public debate. Informed debate because the
facts have been made public.
Thank you.
-------
919
S* Burstein
MR. FRANCOS: Mr* Sol Burstein.
STATEMENT OF SOL BURSTEIN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,
5 WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY,
6 MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
MR. BURSTEIN: Mr. Chairman, conferees, ladies
9 and gentlemen
10 I would like to add a good bit of weight to this
11 conference. I am sorry that this is not the forum, I be-
12 lieve, nor the hour, to refute some of the things that have
13 been said concerning the Point Beach nuclear Plant, the
14 AEG licensing proceedings, and certain matters that go with
15 that.
16 But if Mr. Mayo will permit me, I would like to
17 introduce as an exhibit the eleven volumes of the transcript
18 of the record of that proceeding which speaks for itself.
19 MR. MAYO: Fine.
20 MR. BURSTEIN: I would also like to introduce
21 for your record as an exhibit the Environmental Impact
22 Statements that were alluded to before and in which people
23 like Dr. Coutant were quoted completely out of context. The
24 conclusions of those Impact statements, I think, are irapor-
tant in the analyses of the thermal effects of powerplants
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920
S, Burstein
on Lake Michigan.
3 MR. MAYO: Do you have that material with you?
4 MR. BURSTEIN: Yes, sir.
5 MR. MAYO: Fine.
6 MR. BURSTEIN: Forgive me, Mr. Chairman,
7 Let me suggest that it is a very complete and
competent record that was made of Point Beach. It deals
with many of the questions concerning diving plumes, con-
10 cerns with condenser transport. It is concerned with almost
11 j every other question that was raised here, in a public
12 ! hearing in which sworn testimony was given, in which there
13 were adversary opportunities for cross examination of wit-
14 nesses, and I think as such deserves an opportunity for
1$ those who haven't to review a very important history. As
16 my text indicates, this AEC proceeding was the first full
17 power, full NEPA hearing on environmental issues in an
operating license case, to my knowledge.
19 (The documents above referred to are on file at
U.S. EPA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. and Region V Office,
21 Chicago, Illinois.)
22 MR. BURSTEIN: I will attempt to paraphrase some
of my remarks in order to conserve what litle time we may
have left. But let me say first that Point Beach Unit 1
has been operating rather successfully for almost 23 months,
-------
921
S. Burstein
during which time we have had an opportunity to actually
monitor one of the more recent and significant nuclear plants
on the lake. Unit 2, as you have heard, has had its hearing
concluded, but the decision is still awaited, and is operat-
ing at 20 percent power license after many appeals and court
reviews which, as you heard, are still being reviewed.
As I mentioned before to this conference, we had
time between a period when it was agreed essentially that
10 no damage to Lake Michigan exists and when it was feared
11 by some that future additional sources of heat input might
12 cause irreversible adverse effects. I am pleased that the
13 Enforcement Division of this Region of EPA undertook to have
i
I
14 Argonne provide the summary embodied under Contract Report
15 72-1. My copy of this valuable and exhaustive review is
16 covered in black, which I assume is to mourn the passing
17 of the "white paper." I believe an examination of this new
1& Argonne report will indicate that even in the short inter-
19 val between the 1971 conference and today, substantial scien*-
20 tific effort has been and is being expended to develop a
21 responsible, objective body of technical knowledge concern-
22 ing thermal discharges. Not all the data are in, of course,
23 but to my knowledge none represents any confirmation of the
I
24 fears expressed earlier concerning adverse effects of these
thermal effects.
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922
1 S
2 As you know, ay own State of Wisconsin passed new
3 water quality criteria last December which were made effec-
4 tive in February, and following the details of rules at the
5 end of March concerning substantial monitoring effects, all
6 of the utilities with plants on Lake Michign undertook their
7 implementation, including my own companies*
In the next 1$ months, we will be spending in
9 excess of $1»2 million for these studies at four of our
10 plants, including Point Beach, 1 believe this work to be
11 one of the most detailed and comprehensive programs for the
12 monitoring of thermal discharges and the analysis of their
13 effects. They are designed to be of the highest profes-
14 I sional quality, and we are confident that these new studies
15 will confirm what we have been talking about before, and I
would be happy to share •chem with the Environmental Protec-
17 tion Agency and all of the conferees.
Additionally, of course, we are continuing on
with the numerous other programs that we have enumerated
to you before, some of which I have mentioned in detail in
O"l
I the text of my comments.
22
In my remarks to the workshop sessions of Septem-
ber-October of 1970, I stated that I believed no new Federal
O I
I thermal standards were required for Lake Michigan, but that
05
the adequacy of State criteria could be confirmed by actual
-------
923
•i S* Burstein
2 observations at the operating steam electric generating
o plants, I stated that any effects of thermal discharges on
K sensitive localized areas could be accommodated on a case-by-*-
5 case analysis* It is, of course, heartening to read care-
6 fully Mr. John Quarles1 May 12, 1972, policy statement on
7 thermal discharges and the report of the Environmental Pro-
g tection Agency to this conference which I understand to
9 specify a case-by-case analysis of all relevant facts apply-
10 ing to a particular site,
11 As I indicated before, the full record of the
12 Point Beach nuclear plant proceeding is an excellent example
13 of that case-by-case treatment,
14 At the same time that I am encouraged by the EPA
|
15 policy statements, I am dismayed by two apparently contra-
16 dictory matters. The first concerns Regional Administrator
17 Mayo's letter to the Chairman of the Licensing Board in the
Point Beach proceeding as recently as August 10, 1972, which
19 states that EPA "... continues to support the recommendations
20 of the Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference approved by the
21 Administrator of the EPA on May 14, 1971, and continues to
22 urge that the Point Beach Unit No. 2 have a closed-cycle
cooling system in accordance with the recommendations of
the Enforcement Conference.1*
Evidently Mr. Mayo finds himself constrained by
-------
_ 924
S. Burstein
the recommendations of the 1971 Enforcement Conference which
are in conflict with present EPA case-by-case analysis policy.
The second matter concerns an item appearing in the
September l£, 1972, issue of Electrical Week* The report
references EPA sources as continuing to maintain their stand
7 on requiring closed-cycle cooling for Lake Michigan power-
plants rather than the case-by-case consideration, with a
quote: "We [EPA] are simply viewing Lake Michigan as a
10 single case."
11 Perhaps I should be even more concerned by similar
12 statements, Mr, Chairman, that have been made on the thermal
13 question today.
14 I I believe that we have now gone past the point of
15 further nonsense. I do not honestly see how we can say that
16 there is consistency between a case*-by-case policy statement
17 and Lake Michigan as a whole,
IS We have been around this barn innumerable times,
19 and there is nothing further to be gained by more evasion.
20 The record in these conferences clearly demonstrates that
21 insofar as thermal matters are concerned there is no tech—
22 nical basis for considering Lake Michigan as a single case.
23 There are many, many items which I have deliber-
ately summarized in a single paragraph concerning the
reasons why it is imperative that I think this conference
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92$
S. Burstein
take clear and unmistakable action to rescind the 1971 thermal
recommendations* This will give the EPA Regional Administra
tor confirmation of the actions of the respective States and
will avoid any present or potential conflict between Federal
and State agencies, the Congress, and the courts.
I suggest perhaps, Mr* Chairman and conferees,
& that it is time for this conference, including EPA, to
endorse for the Region what the conferees have accomplished
10 individually*
11 MR. MAYO: Are there any questions, gentlemen?
12 Thank you, Mr, Burstein.
13 (Mr. Burstein's presentation follows in its
14 entirety,)
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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STATEMENT OF SOL BURSTEIN
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY
LAKE MICHIGAN ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
SEPTEMBER 19-22, 1972
My name is jol Burstein. I am Senior Vice President
of Wisconsin Electric Power Company. You will recall that at
previous sessions of the Conference I presented details in
regard to the Wisconsin Electric Power system that I repre-
sent, the territory and number of customers we serve, and the
power plants we operate in the State of Wisconsin along the
western shore of Lake Michigan. Among these power plants,
which utilize once-through-cooling, are the Oak Creek Plant,
which is presently the largest operating thermal plant on Lake
Michigan, and the Point Beach Nuclear Plant, one unit of which
has been operating at essentially full power for almost twenty-
three months. In regard to the second unit, we have recently
concluded one of the longest and most detailed public hearings
on environmental effects of its operation and it is now in
service at an interim 20% level.
In my remarks to this Conference on March 24, 1971,
I emphasized certain observations from the proceedings and
from the conclusions of the January, 1971, report of the
Technical Committee on Thermal Discharges. I expressed my
concurrence with the Committee recommendation and the then
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- 2 -
Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Carl Klein, that there
is a period of time between the present when no damage to
Lake Michigan from thermal discharges exists - and some un-
defined future time when some feared additional sources of
heat might cause irreversible adverse effects. I stated this
period affords and, indeed, demands that we use this time to
determine what we should intelligently do before we do it.
I am pleased that the Region V Enforcement Division
of the Environmental Protection Agency undertook to have
Argonne National Laboratory provide the summary embodied
under Contract Report 72-1. My copy of this valuable and
exhaustive review is covered in black which I assume is to
mourn the passing of the White Papers, I believe an examina-
tion of this new Argonne report will indicate that even in
the short interval between the 1971 Conferences and today,
substantial scientific effort has been and is being expended
to develop a responsible, objective body of technical know-
ledge concerning thermal discharges. Not all the data are in,
of course, but to my knowledge, none represents any confirmation
of the fears expressed earlier concerning adverse effects of
these thermal effluents.
In my own state of Wisconsin, new thermal criteria
adopted in December, 1971, and effective February 1, 1972,
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- 3 -
call for extensive monitoring of existing power plant dis-
charges and their effects on the aquatic environment. Data
and analyses are to be provided to the Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources in interim progress reports and in a
final report due February 1, 1974. An advisory board of
eminently qualified scientists developed a set of require-
ments to implement these Wisconsin criteria in March, 1972,
immediately after which the utilities in my state undertook
to perform the studies.
In the next eighteen months we will be spending in
excess of $1,200,000 for these studies at the Oak Creek, Lake-
side, Port Washington and Point Beach plants. I believe this
work to be one of the most detailed and comprehensive programs
for the monitoring of thermal discharges and the analysis of
their effects. They are designed to be of the highest pro-
fessional quality. We are confident that these new studies,
together with the data observed in the past at our facilities
and at other similar installations, will provide further hard
scientific corroboratior. of our past positions before this
Conference. We would be pleased to share the results of our
studies with EPA and the conferees.
Additionally, the Center for Great Lakes Studies at
the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee has undertaken studies
at our Oak Creek Power Plant under AEC funding with instrumen-
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- 4 -
tation and other services supplied by us. You will recall
my having suggested such an undertaking in 1970. The other
programs being conducted by the Sea Grant Program at the
University of Wisconsin, Argonne National Laboratory, Uni-
versity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and those being sponsored by
the Lake Michigan Utility Study Group continue to receive
our financial and technical support and continue to supply
further information on thermal effects. More and more we
are beginning to give Administrator Ruckelshaus as well as
the states and the conferees that "considerable and growing
body of evidence" that we did not have earlier. To date/ none
of these data provide any basis for any arbitrary or hasty de-
cisions absolutely precluding thermal releases to Lake Michi-
gan.
In my remarks to the workshop sessions of last Septem-
ber-October, I stated that I believed no new federal thermal
standards were required for Lake Michigan but that the ade-
quacy of state criteria could be confirmed by actual obser-
vations at operating st-aam-electric generating plants. I
stated that any effects of thermal discharges on sensitive
localized areas could be accommodated on a case-by-case analy-
sis. It is, of course, heartening to read carefully Mr. John
Quarles May 12, 1972, policy statement on thermal discharges
and the report of the Environmental Protection Agency to this
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- 5 -
Conference which I understand to specify a case-by-case
analysis of all relevant facts applying to a particular site.
We have just had what I believe is the first full
public hearing on environmental issues attending an AEC con-
tested operating license proceeding in connection with our
Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Unit 2. During t-.nis hearing, a
major emphasis was on the effects of plant operation on the
aquatic environment. I believe an objective review of the
transcript of that hearing will indicate that a valid, scien-
tifically based analysis on a case-by-case basis is the only
realistic approach to an understanding and evaluation of
power plant thermal effects. I would be glad to provide this
Conference with a copy of that transcript.
At the same time that I am encouraged by the EPA policy
statements, I am dismayed by two apparently contradictory mat-
ters. The first concerns Regional Administrator Mayo's let-
ter to the Chairman of the Licensing Board in the Point Beach
proceeding as recently as August 10, 1972, which states ex-
plicitly that EPA "continues to support the Recommendations
of the Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference approved by the
Administrator of the EPA on May 14, 1971, and continues to
urge that the Point Beach Unit #2 have a closed cycle cooling
system in accordance with the recommendations of the Enforce-
ment Conference". Evidently, Mr. Mayo finds himself constrained
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- 6 -
by the recommendations of the 1971 Enforcement Conference
which are in conflict with present EPA case-by-case analysis
policy.
The second matter concerns an item appearing in the
September 18, 1972, issue of Electrical Week, a McGraw-Hill
utility industry newsletter. This report references EPA
sources as continuing to maintain their stand on requiring
closed cycle cooling for Lake Michigan power plants rather
than the case-by-case consideration with the quote, "We
[EPA] are simply viewing Lake Michigan as a single case".
I believe, Mr. Chairman and Conferees, that we have
gone past the point of further nonsense. We have been around
this barn innumerable times and there is nothing further to
be gained by more evasion. The record in these Conferences
clearly demonstrates that insofar as thermal matters are con-
cerned, there is no technical basis for considering Lake
Michigan as a single case.
I need notrepeat here in detail what you all know and
have heard — the separate actions of the respective states,
the present events in the Congress on the new water quality
legislation, the analysis and the conclusions by all the
national laboratories in the environmental impact statements
for all the current nuclear plants on Lake Michigan which are
against closed cycle cooling, the absence of a NEPA statement
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- 7 -
on the 1971 recommendations, present litigation which records
the fact that these 1971 recommendations have no legal effect,
the forthcoming publication of the revised Green Book, the
actual results of currently operating power plants on Lake
Michigan and the extensive and high caliber additional studies
currently under way to provide further information. All these
matters, together with the apparent conflict between EPA
present policy on thermal discharges and the 1971 recommenda-
tions of the Enforcement Conference require that this Con-
ference take clear and unmistakable action to rescind the
1971 thermal recommendations. This action will give the EPA
Regional Administrator confirmation of the actions of the res-
pective states and will avoid any present or potential conflict
between federal and state agencies, the Congress and the courts,
I believe we in Wisconsin have demonstrated that the
utility industry and state agencies charged with environmental
protection and enhancement can work together on a realistic
timetable to determine and evaluate environmental impacts and
to effect remedial actions where necessary. I believe othrfr
utilities and other state agencies around Lake Michigan have
provided similar demonstrations of their capacity and intent.
I suggest it is now time for this Conference, including EPA,
to endorse for the region what the conferees have accomplished
individually.
-------
926
•, P. Keshishian
2 MR. FRANCOS: Mr. Paul Keshishian.
3
4 STATEMENT OF PAUL KESHISHIAN, DIRECTOR,
5 POWER PRODUCTION, WISCONSIN POWER AND
6 LIGHT COMPANY, MADISON, WISCONSIN
7
MR. KESHISHIAN: My name is Paul Keshishian, I
9 am the Director of Power Production of the Wisconsin Power
10 and Light Company
11 Before I read my prepared statement, I would like
12 to make reference to what Mr. Barber said earlier — I
13 think it was — this evening. (Laughter)
14 I take strong exception with Mr. Barber's list
15 of fish kills as proof of the need for cooling towers on Lake
16 Michigan. As a point of fact, one incident he referred to
17 occurred in December 1952 at the Glenwood Landing Station
of Long Island Lighting Company, and involved their 100 MW
19 No. 4 unit. It was a serious problem. Brown herrings were
20 being found in their intake screens and their unit condensers
so that periodic shutdowns occurred.
22 £ noted ichthyologist was hired to determine the
cause of the problem. After careful study of the incident
and field investigation, he recommended that they shut off
25 their dock lights at night as the lights were an attraction
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927
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
&
9
10
11
12
13
14
17
19
20
21
22
'
P. Keshishian
to the fish that resulted in their being sucked into the
intake structures. Once the lights were shut off, they had
no further problems with herrings in their intakes. For the
past 20 years, they have not had any problems. And this is
not a fish story. (Laughter)
I also take exception to his conclusions regarding
the Indian Point station of the Consolidated Edison Company
of New York. While this station apparently has a problem,
there are many other stations on the Hudson River that do
not have a problem. Specifically, on the Consolidated
Edison system, there are 11 other stations he did not refer
to. I was general superintendent of 5 of those stations
between 19 5^ to 1969, and I never witnessed or had knowledge
of any fish kill. Specifically, I was general superintendent
of the 59th Street station, the 74th Street station, the
Kent Avenue station, the Astoria generating station, and the
Raymond generating station.
j aiso point out that both the latter two stations
are 5 times the size of the Indian Point station. I think
it is absolutely incorrect to reach a conclusion that
because a small percentage of stations may have had a
problem that, ergo, a thousand other stations will also
*}}
have the same problem.
I won't read my complete statement. You have
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92$
•—•—•
P. Keshishian
2 that*
3 The Wisconsin Power and Light Company is basically
4 in partnership with the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation
5 and Madison Gas and Electric Company, who are building the
6 500 MW nuclear power station at Kewaunee. We are also
7 building the Columbia generating station near Portage,
8 Columbia County, and we own 40 percent of both stations*
9 I am pleased to have the opportunity to comment on
10 a proposed policy for the responsible use of our water
11 resources* We have an interest in the development of such
12 a policy as an electric public utility charged with the
13 responsibility under Wisconsin law of providing electric
14 service to its customers and also reasonably adequate
15 facilities to provide that service. Wisconsin Power and
Light Company believes that its record to date in all ways
establishes itself as a responsible citizen in these areas.
j ^11 confine my remarks to the Edgewater gener-
ating station in regard to the Lake Michigan proposed
standards.
21 At the outset, it may be helpful to discuss this
22 question in the perspective of the cost implications involved
particularly in view of the fact that there is no proven
damage to Lake Michigan from the operation of the electric
05
' generating plants.
-------
929
P, Keshishian
2 Since the last Lake Michigan conference study in
3 Chicago, we have had an engineering report prepared for
4 alternative cooling systems for our Edgewater generating
5 station. The capital cost of installing a mechanical draft
6 cooling tower at our Edgewater station is now estimated to
7 be $7,S35>000, In addition, as a result of the decrease in
8 turbine capability and requirements for auxiliary power to
9 operate the towers, an additional equivalent investment of
10 $6 million would be required to replace this capability and
11 compensate for the additional fuel requirements. Thus, the
12 total required equivalent capital investment for the instal-
13 lation and operation of these towers would be $13,^35,000,
14 In addition, $200,000 per year will be required for the
15 maintenance of these towers and their auxiliary equipment
16 We should also point out that to operate these
17 towers it is necessary to burn an additional 117 million
pounds of coal per year with the resulting discharge to
19 the atmosphere of over 7 million pounds of sulfur dioxide
20 and large amounts of nitrogen dioxide and particulate
21 matter. In the absence of evidence that there is signifi-
22 cant damage to the lake, what justification is there for
23 this magnitude of expenditures and this increase in atmos-
pheric pollution?
25 The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
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930
-. P. Keshishian
2 determined that it would study the effects of the operations
3 of each powerplant on Lake Michigan on a case-by-case basis.
4 As a result, we are currently negotiating a contract for a
5 year-long environmental study at the Edgewater generating
6 station to determine if any damage is occurring to the lake
7 at this site as a result of our powerplant operations. This
study will obtain all the necessary information requested
9 by the Department of Natural Resources of Wisconsin in its
10 proposed Guidelines for Environmental Studies at Lake
11 Michigan Thermal Discharge Sites as required under Wisconsin
12 Administrative Code N.R. 102.04.
13 The question of appropriate temperature limitations
14 for waters discharged into Lake Michigan involves the bal-
15 ancing of all public rights in the use of Lake Michigan
16 including the industrial use of those waters provided the
17 industrial use does not result in significant damage.
Wisconsin Power and Light Company is strongly opposed to
any program such as the imposition of an effluent require—
20 ment that is not based upon actual experience that would
21 result in substantially higher costs to Wisconsin electric
rate payers without any corresponding decrease in damage
to Lake Michigan.
Thank you, Mr, Chairman and conferees.
MR. MAYO: Thank you.
(Mr. Keshishian1s statement follows in its
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STATEMENT OF WISCONSIN POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY
My name is Paul Keshishian. I am the Director of
Power Production of the Wisconsin Power and Light Company.
Wisconsin Power and Light Company is an investor owned,
electric, gas and water utility. It provides the retail electric
service to 232,000 customers in over 400 communities. It provides
wholesale electric service to 33 communities and 5 cooperatives.
Its service area occupies 15,000 square miles in central and
southern Wisconsin with a population of almost 700,000.
Wisconsin Power and Light Company owns and operates
four fossil-fueled electric generating plants with a total
generating capacity of 780,000 kilowatts. One of the generating
plants, Edgewater, with a capacity of 458,000 kilowatts, is
located on Lake Michigan at Sheboygan. Two of our plants are
located in Rock County, and one is located in Grant County.
It also owns hydroelectric facilities with a generating capacity
of 51,200 kilowatts and gas turbine generating facilities with
a capacity of 86,000 kilowatts.
Wisconsin Power and Light Company, in partnership with
Wisconsin Public Service Corporation and Madison Gas and Electric
Company, is in the process of constructing a 527,000 kilowatt
nuclear generating plant on Lake Michigan near Kewaunee, in
Kewaunee County. Operation of the Kewaunee plant is scheduled
for 1973. The same three oompanies are also constructing a
527,000 kilowatt fossil-fueled generating plant, known as tne
-------
Columbia Generating Station, near Portage, Columbia County.
Commercial operation for the Columbia Plant is scheduled for
March 1, 1975.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to comment on a
proposed policy for the responsible use of our water resources.
We have an interest in the development of such a policy as an
electric public utility charged with the responsibility under
Wisconsin law of providing electric service to its customers
and also reasonably adequate facilities to provide that service.
Wisconsin Power arid Light Company believes that its record to
date in all ways establishes itself as a responsible citizen
in these areas.
I will confine my remarks to the Edgewater Generating
Station in regard to the Lake Michigan proposed standards.
At the outset, it may be helpful to discuss this
question.in the perspective of the cost implications involved
particularly in view of the fact that there is no proven damage
to Lake Michigan from the operation of the electric generating
plants.
Since the last Lake Michigan conference study in
Chicago, we have had an engineering report prepared for alternate
cooling systems for our Edgewater Generating Station. The capital
cost of installing a mechanical draft cooling tower at our
Edgewater Station is now estimated to be $7,835,000. In addition,
as a result of the decrease in turbine capability and requirements
-2-
-------
for auxiliary power to operate the towers, an additional
equivalent investment of $6,000,000 would be required to replace
this capability and compensate for the additional fuel require-
ments. Thus, the total required equivalent capital investment
for the installation and operation of these towers would be
$13,835,000. In addition, $200,000 per year will be required
for the maintenance of these towers and their auxiliary equipment.
We should also point out that to operate these towers
it is necessary to burn an additional 117,600,000 pounds of coal
per year with the resulting discharge to the atmosphere of over
7,000,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide and large amounts of nitrogen
dioxide and particulate matter. In the absence of evidence that
i
there is significant damage to the Lake, wnat just.iricata.on is
there for this magnitude of expenditures and this increase in
atmospheric pollution?
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources determined
that it would study the effects of the operations of each power
plant on Lake Michigan on a case by case basis. As a result,
we are currently negotiating a contract for a year-long environmental
study at the Edgewater Generating Station to determine if any
damage is occurring to the Lake at this site as a result of our
power plant operations. This study will obtain all the necessary
information requested by the Department of Natural Resources of
Wisconsin in its proposed Guidelines for Environmental Studies at
Lake Michigan Thermal Discharges Sites as required under Wisconsin
Administrative Code N.R. 102.04.
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The question of appropriate temperature limitations for
waters discharged into Lake Michigan involves the balancing of
all public rights in the use of Lake. Michigan including the
industrial use of those waters provided the industrial use does
not result in significant damage. Wisconsin Power and Light
Company is strongly opposed to any program such as the imposition
of an effluent requirement that is not based upon actual
experience that would result in substantially higher costs to
Wisconsin electric rate payers without any corresponding decrease
in damage to Lake Michigan.
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931
1 J. Rogers
2 Any questions, gentlemen?
3 MR. FRANGOS: Mr. Keshishian, I have recently
4 learned that Mr. Mayo is an old Brooklyn boy. Maybe you
5 fellows can get together a little bit later and talk about
6 the Dodgers and old timesj
7 MR. KESHISHIAN: I would really like to.
8 MR. McDONALD: Maybe Mr. Mayo ought to talk about
9 the East River because it is ray understanding — I am from
10 upstate New York originally — but I always thought that the
11 East River was something like the Chicago River and Sanitary
12 Ship Canal now as far as containing fish. Isn't it just abou
13 devoid of fish, Mr. Mayo, so it is hard to have a fish kill?
14 (Laughter.)
15 MR. FRANGOS: Mr* Chairman, I have a statement by
16 Mr. James A. Rogers, Assistant Attorney General of Wisconsin.
17 He asked that I read this into the record, so if you will
IS indulge me, I will read it.
19
20 STATEMENT OF JAMES A. ROGERS,
21 ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL,
22 WISCONSIN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT,
23 MADISON, WISCONSIN
24 (AS READ BY THOMAS G. FRANGOS)
25
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932
I J. Rogers
2 MR. FRANCOS: My name is James A, Rogers and I am
3 an Assistant Attorney General of Wisconsin. I work in a
4 division of the State Justice Department that specializes
5 in environmental matters, and in that capacity I have par-
6 ticipated in a lengthy Atomic Energy Commission Safety and
7 Licensing Board hearing on Wisconsin Electric Power Company's
S application to operate Unit 2 of the Point Beach nuclear
9 powerplant. This plant is located near Manitowoc, Wiscon-
10 sin. I am speaking today only in behalf of the Justice
11 Department.
12 One of the major issues in those proceedings,
13 defined most broadly, was whether the water discharged from
14 the plant at a substantially higer temperature than
15 ambient, would cause "pollution," and, if so, what should
16 be done about it,
17 It would be improper at this time to attempt to
1& publicly generalize as to what the evidence showed; it is
!9 proper and important, however, to ask what evidence exists
20 that was not presented. Specifically, I feel that if the
21 United States Environmental Protection Agency possesses
22 information which is relevant to the environmental issues
23 posed by the operation of a specific nuclear powerplant
2/f sited on Lake Michigan or by the operation of such plants
25 as a group, it is desirable to have that Agency present
-------
933
I J, Rogers
2 this information, either as an advocate for intervenors or
3 applicants, or as a friend of the court, so that the decision
4 of the Atomic Energy Commission hearing panel may be more
5 intelligently made. Even testimony to the effect that the
6 findings are contradictory or that specialists within the
7 Agency disagree would be valuable*
8 There was great frustration experienced by our
9 office in the Point Beach hearings, and to some extent it
10 was caused by the Environmental Protection Agency's
11 tantalizing criticisms of the scientific approach being
12 taken by Applicant power company, by warnings of dangers,
13 and by the suggestion that the Agency would indeed become
14 involved in the hearing.
15 In the Environmental Protection Agency's comments
1^ to Environmental Impact Statement for Point Beach, dated
17 March 22, 1972, the Agency reiterated the position that
1^ Point Beach would not be in compliance with the recommenda-
19 tions of the Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference, and in
20 detailed comments suggested several possible ways in which
21 the thermal effluent would damage Lake Michigan's ecology.
22 For example, the comments said thats
23 "Research performed at the Environmental Protectior
2/l" Agency's National Water Quality Laboratory in Duluth,
2^ Minnesota, indicates that reproductive ability may be
-------
934
1 J. Rogers
2 impaired in fish exposed to elevated water temperatures.
3 ... [T]he effluent from the Point Beach plant could signi-
4 ficantly reduce the reproductive success of yellow perch
5 attracted to the plume."
5 It was hoped by our office that such evidence
7 would be offered by the EPA and subjected to adversary
8 scrutiny, a hope that had been encouraged by the Agency's
9 filing of a notice of limited appearance. But the only EPA
10 witness who appeared at the hearing was under subpoena by
11 the private intervenors. The confusion was heightened
12 somewhat when, on August 10 of this year, Mr. Mayo sent a
13 letter to the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
14 hearing panel stating:
15 "This Agency ... continues to urge that Point
16 Beach Unit No. 2 have a closed-cycle cooling system in
17 accordance with the recommendations of the [Lake Michigan]
1# Enforcement Conference."
19 It also stated that EPA would forego appearance
20 | at the Point Beach hearings until after this session of
21 the Enforcement Conference.
22 The point of all this is that, especially in the
wake of recent court decisions broadening Atomic Energy
Commission obligations in the environmental field, the
licensing proceedings before the Atomic Energy Commission
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935
J. Rogers
2 are the fora in which environmental challenges can be
3 directly responded to with enforceable orders of the Atomic
Energy Commission, either conditioning the granting of
5 licenses or, in theory, denying the license application
6 altogether. It is at these Atomic Energy Commission hearings
7 that data in the possession of the Environmental Protection
g Agency will have its most telling impact.
9 While my remarks may be taken as severe criticism
10 of EPA's role in the Lake Michigan thermal question, I would
11 rather characterize it as a request to that broadly-based
12 and well-funded Agency to assist those struggling State
13 agencies to get an initial grasp of this problem. The
14 Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly shown an
15 ability to make a sophisticated scientific analysis of
16 important environmental questions and I have merely assumed
17 that studies of this caliber have been made of the thermal
13 question.
19 End of statement.
20 Mr. Chairman, I would also like to submit for
21 the record a statement by Mrs. Miriam Dahl on thermal dis-
22 charges into Lake Michigan.
23 ^The document above referred to follows in its
2L
* entirety.)
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SbPX.U
14 «* S ** Q3K fQft
wf «T;i«»l>
Mr. Chairman ;Confei-©ea; Ladies and G*ntl«aen:
1 aa Mir las O.Uahl. I represent today the .^iaconsln &tat« ^Ivlaion of
the Isaek «a Ifeon i-eague of America which has 22 Chapters representing a
grass roots opinion fro® the State.
The Wisconsin -Division baa in previous statements takes a positio»
promoting economic health and progress. ^e hallev© the only
course of survival of such eeonosiio health 1* «? much s*lser apprQaeh to
our past and present flagrant use of irreplaceable resources and to atop
the continuing abase of our
In line with this thinking, a© have previously proposed studies using
»@w approaehee and theories as well as the usual ajethode to find new and
i&te ways to use the resources we have. Cotieensit^ wee of the atomic
«««rgi©8 fsethods of pro<3uQliig electric possrep, testing has not been ade-
quate to reassure, even partially, ttoe proper sMithods of use, let alone
the safeguards to protect fron possible accidental holocaust* ftee nort
b©en to 4^ ahead and s@e what fesppfsus. If wfeat happ0B« i» i
IB destruction and/or sau tat Ions, that Is too bewl. Juat go
0i©po@al of radioactive wsstes have eot been solved satisfactorily. So
ishrt? w® are toM that people ^aut p©ak <3eaiatt4s «et no saatter at what
cost. This oould barai^ b® l«t«rpret«a as httaltlyr eooooalos la any sense.
The discharge of heated -?ater Into the waterways, in tills ease into
Lake -ilohlgan ha a been contested in the courts. The aoxtey spent to gain
.•e-rsaldsion to go ahead with the discharge as stated at the original 20*
u0aid have beext uaed to research methods of reducing the temperature
to a lower level, but the old aetho^a of operation still persist IB the
eoocoay even though OB a sore sophisticated level.
ID our position state a«nt the yiBConsin Di vision of Izaak «alton League
stated; that we believe a 1* difference in temperature oan be achieved
ar*d should b© a goal vfithin tbe near future IF the research project is
pursued with the same deter-alnation as the action to preserve the 20*
figure. ;* preeeut 4* allowance Mould be adequate- for present use and
would cot hurt the ecology accord lag to present findings. *e have bees
told that a 5* teaper®tuure couia be achieved 2 years ago. We deplore the
allowase© of the 20*. ffeie mums th -t progress in the last 3 years has
bemi nil. in this area. It is certainly not what ite expected, 'the ex-
penditures have been for a holding aofion, Hot for the forwana thrust.
We have lost the preeioue aosnuxlities of ti»©,aoney and researeh iafoi?-
aatlon.
The threatened laolt of electrical energy last euHMier did uot occur. The
^iscorjain £leotrio Power Goaipaay t aooordlng to news releases purchased
th« extra power needed from another ooapany. Ko eurtailtsest o» lose of
experienced.
Policy changes in sdvortising of Power Companlea has been useful in show-
Ing the public how it can best use electric power. This is a step in the
right direction, mother great step would be to charge the sliding scale
rates to industrial users so that it would not r*iy less for using sore
power. **ior» eff iciest use of industrial power would effect great savings
This should fee reviewed in every industrial plant. Waste of aore than
in sosae eases oan be eliminated.
-------
Lighting up downtown areas to sunlight intensity during the night
can be better controlled. Me do HOT tueed to atop lighting, even display
light Ing, but It IB sew overdone and can be vodlfled. Streets must too
illuminated, 80ao more than they are. Public buildings have overllghtlng
of auoh brilliance that It Is tiring, if not Injurious to the eyes. The
heat generated must be dissipated by sore cooling energy. Recently to
a convention halll asked that only 1/2 of the GlifssCBS&ytX lights be
extinguished. It was done. Everyone had good via Ion and conducted busi-
ness as usual, flany people later reaarked that they felt less sleepy
and more comfortable. Sueh changes oan be made immediately and would
result in providing "extra power resources* when needed.
Innovative seasures are needed. To continue pragmatically refusing to
try so®e of tint suggest ions is to refuse healthy economic progress is
proper use of our resources. Laws emu, of course help, b ut laws are sot
needed by pr&9%loal business sea with aosae inagi native sis ion who want
to achieve the same ecological world for which we work. We believe the
power company off iciala are such aen.
f)ie large hurdle Is the change of approach to our problems. OBoe over
thatt we oaa devote our energies and funds to finding the answers to
safe uses of nuelea r sources and to reducing the hear discharges,
eharge this Conference with the responsibility to protect the waters
from the condesmatiotj of such high heat additions. At the same tiae,
we charge our State of Wisconsin with the responsibility of re-evalua-
ting its position on this same problem.
Respectfully submitted,
Chr. Water Pollution Committee
Wisoonein State Division of the
Izaak Walton League of America.
September 19,1972.
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936
1 T, Frangos
2
3 STATEMENT OF THOMAS G. FRANGOS,
4 ADMINISTRATOR, DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION,
5 WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES,
6 MADISON, WISCONSIN
7
# MR. FRANGOS: At this time, I would like to read a
9 2-page statement by the Department of Natural Resources, and
10 i think at this point in time it is easier for me to read
11 it rather than try to paraphrase it.
12 in the summer of 1971, the Wisconsin Department of
13 Natural Resources held a public hearing to consider revising
14 thermal standards for Lake Michigan to conform with the
15 recommendations of the Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference.
16 Following the hearing, oral agreements were presented to a
17 quorum of the Natural Resources Board by representatives of
1^ the utilities, environmental groups, and the U.S. Environ-
•^ mental Protection Agency. The Environmental Quality Committe
20 of the Board reviewed the transcript of the public hearing,
21 took cognizance of the oral presentation, and discussed the
22 proposed standards with staff members of the Department.
23
The committee's conclusions reached in the fall of 1971 are
24
as follows:
25
"The problem of heat discharges is complex
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937
j_ T. Frangos
2 involving not only the scientific data required to establish
3 criteria, but also the social and economic considerations
4 that must be evaluated in establishing standards and provid-
5 ing preventive and corrective measures. Based on our review
6 of the information presented, we are of the opinion that much
7 is unknown about the effects of thermal discharges and about
# the environmental impact of corrective works or methods that
9 may be employed to reduce the quantity of heat discharged,
10 However, because of the increased possibility of damage to
11 Lake Michigan from proliferation of powerplants, the
12 committee believes that it is sound public policy to prohibit
13 thermal discharge from plants not now operating, operable,
14 or under construction until questions we and others have
15 raised have been answered. The committee holds that the
16 financial burden to establish the impact of heated dis-
17 charges rests on the industry.
18 "A 2-year study conducted at the various power-
19 plant sites on Lake Michigan together with data now being
20 obtained from several other studies, should provide data
21 on which rational decisions as to proper corrective measures
22 to be taken can be based. These studies will be conducted
23 by the industry and will be designed and supervised by the
Department.
25 «in the meantime, the Department will be
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933
, T. Frangos
2 conducting its own investigations, including further evalua-
3 tion of the environmental problems associated with cooling
4 towers or cooling ponds.
5 "Further, we would reserve to the Board and the
6 Department the right to take immediate remedial action should
7 it be determined at any time during the 2-year study period
& that environmental damage appears imminent or existent.
9 "This provision, coupled with a moratorium on the
10 siting of additional plants on Lake Michigan, satisfies the
11 committee that the quality of the lake can and will be main-
12 tained to best serve the public interest."
13 The Natural Resources Board approved the revised
14 thermal standards on December B, 1971* They were published
15 in the January 1972 Register and became effective on February
16 1, 1972. As part of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, the
17 standards have the force and effect of law.
fhe new thermal standards establish monthly maximum
temperature criteria and a limit of 3° F. over the existing
20 temperature of the receiving water at the edge of an estab-
21 lished mixing zone. Milwaukee Harbor, Port Washington Har-
22 bor and the mouth of the Fox Fiver are exempted from the
monthly maximums because of the naturally occurring higher
temperatures.
j-or existing or soon-to-be completed facilities
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5
6
7
a
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
939
T. Frangos
that exceed a discharge of 500 million B.t.u. per hour, it
is required that the owners submit monthly reports of temper-
ature and flow data, a detailed chemical analysis of blow-
down waters, a preliminary engineering report for the instal-
lation of alternative cool:n^ systems, and the findings of
a 2-year study of the environmental and ecological impact
of the discharges. The environmental study must be conducted
in a manner approved by the Department and it will aid in
the establishment of a mixing zone.
Any new facility must be designed so as to avoid
significant thermal discharge to Lake Michigan, and should
existing discharges appear to threaten or cause environ-
mental damage, the Department may order the reduction of
thermal input regardless of interim measures undertaken by
the source owners.
The Department of Natural Resources immediately
notified the affected utilities of the reporting requirements
of the new thermal standards. In addition, a committee was
formed to develop guidelines for Environmental Studies at
Lake Michigan Thermal Discharge Sites. Included in the com-
mittee were two representatives from UW-Madison, two
representatives from UW-Milwaukee and one representative
from UW-Green Bay. Copies of the guidelines, which are
attached, were distributed to Wisconsin utilities and
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
940
T. Frangos
subsequent meetings were held by DNR to determine the
adequacy of the utilities' proposed environmental studies.
At the present time, all of the reporting and
environmental study requirements of the Wisconsin thermal
standards are being complied with. An attached status
report lists the involved powerplants and the dates various
reports were received and preliminary study plans approved.
I would like to make the attachments also a part
of the record.
MR. MAYOi Do you have copies of the attachments
with you?
MR. FRANGOS: Yes. I thought those were dis-
tributed, Mr. Mayo. I have additional ones though if you
would like.
MR. MAYO: I just wanted to make sure they were
available for the record.
MR. FRANGOS: I believe that concludes the
Wisconsin presentation.
(The documents above referred to follow in their
entirety.)
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Unit
Edgewater
Kewaunee
Pulliam
Point Beach
Oak Creek
Lakeside
Port Washington
Valley
STATUS OF WISCONSIN POWER PLANTS
IN MEETING LAKE MICHIGAN THERMAL STANDARDS
SEPTEMBER 5, 1972
Monthly
Preliminary Chcmicr.l Analysis DNR Approval Operating
Utility Eng. Report BlowcHvm Waters Env. Study Reports
WPL
WPS
WPS
WEP
WEP
WEP
WEP
WEP
8/31/72
8/2/72
8/2/72
8/1/72
8/1/72
8/1/72
N/A
N/A
3/9/72
Nuc.lear Plant
8/2/72
Nuclear Plant
7/31/72
7/31/72
7/31/72
7/31/72
7/19/72 . Yes
6/14/72 Not in Operation
6/13/72
9/5/72
9/5/72
9/5/72
N/A
N/A
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
N/A - Not applicable since not required in administrative code.
WPL - Wisconsin Pov:er and Light Company
WPS - Wisconsin Public Service Corporation
WEP - Wisconsin Electric Power Company
JRM:mn
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WISCONSIN ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
NATURAL RESOURCES
102.04 Lake Michigan thermal standards. For Lake
Michigan the following thermal standards are established
so as to minimize effects on the aquatic biota in the
receiving waters.
(I) (a) Thermal discharges shall not raise the receiving
water temperature more than 3 degrees F. at the bound-
ary of mixing zones established by the department.
(b) In addition to the limitation set forth in subsection
(1) (a); but excepting the Milwaukee Harbor, Port Wash-
ington Harbor and the mouth of the Fox River, thermal
discharges shall not raise the temperature of the icceiving
waters at the boundary of the established mixing zones
above the following limits:
January 45 degrees F.
February 45 degrees F.
March 45 degrees F.
April 55 degrees F.
May 60 degrees F.
June 70 degrees F.
July 80 degrees F.
August 80 degrees F.
September 80 degrees F.
October 65 degrees F.
November 60 degrees F.
December 50 degrees F.
(2)'All owners utilizing, maintaining or presently con-
structing sources of thermal discharges exceeding a daily
average of 500 million BTU per hour shall:
(a) Submit monthly reports of temperature and flow
data on forms prescribed by the department commencing
60 days after the effective date of this rule.
(b) Within 24 months of the effective date of this rule,
complete an investigation and study of the environmental
and ecological impact of such discharge in a manner
approved by the department. After a review of the
ecological and environmental impact of the discharge,
mixing zones shall be established by the department.
(c) Submit to the department within 6 months of the
effective date of this rule a preliminary engineering report
for the installation of alternative cooling systems.
(d) Submit within 6 months of the effective date of
this rule a detailed chemical analysis of blowdown waters
discharged to Lake Michigan and its tributaries.
(3) Any plant or facility, the construction of which is
commenced after the effective date of this rule, shall be
so designed as to avoid significant thermal discharge to
Lake Michigan.
(4) The department may order the reduction of ther-
mal discharges to Lake Michigan regardless of interim
measures undertaken by the source owners in compliance
with this rule if environmental damage appears imminent
or existent.
(5) The provisions of this rule are not applicable to
municipal waste and water treatment plants and vessels.
-------
Wisconsin ).X:partr.ent of Natural Rcnources
Division of'Environmental Protection
LAKE MICHIGAN - TilERMAL I1TACT INVESTIGATIONS
GENERAL CO'-raiJTS
An investigation or study of the environmental and ecological ir.pact of
thernal discharges that exceed one half billion BTU's per hour to Lake
Michigan is required by the new thermal standards. Pover plants vhich
are to conduct the studies are:
Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Wisconsin Electric Pover Conroany
Kevaunec Nuclear Plant, Wisconsin Puolic Service Corporation
Oak Creek Plant, Wisconsin Electric Power Company
Lakeside Plant, Wisconsin Electric Pover Company
Edgcvater Plant, Wisconsin Pover and_Light Company
Pullian Plant, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation
The studies are to be prepared in a manner approved by the Department, and
the report covering the results nust be submitted vithin 2k months of the
effective date of the thermal standards (January 31, 197*0. All studies
are to be conducted in a manner such that the data obtained provides an
accurate and quantitative description of the phenomena under investigation.
These investigations shall include studies specifically designed tc3 evaluate
the variability of the data obtained and, therefore, the expected Tjrecision
vith vhich a predicted or measured effect is estimated or determined.
The analytical and other methods used for measurements shall be in accord
vith methods that are known to give a high degree of reliability under the
conditions used in this study.
The studies should be conducted in a manner so that a quarterly review of
the data collected is made by the investigator, Any particular problems
indicated by this quarterly reviev should be brought to the Department of
liatural Resources for possible advice and assistance. It is imperative
that an active data reviev be conducted during the course of the study
and adjustments of the study planned in accord vith the findings of the
previous period.
Attached are specific guidelines for these thermal impact investigations.
JRMtjm
3-29-72
Attachment
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Guidelines for Environmental Studies
at Lake Michigan Thermal Discharge Sites
I. Predictive Model and Measurement of Existing Temperature and
Velocity Structure of the Thermal Plume Under Prescribed Boundary
Conditions.
At those installations where thermal discharges are in effect
today,-field measurements of the thermal plume should be made. At new
or soon to operate facilities, mathematical models of the expected thermal
discharge plume should be developed.
These studies should:
a. .Present expected temperature iso'j ines for the thermal plume
from the point of discharge in the lake to the 2° FJlT isoline (i.e.
above the au.bient) , The isolines should be computed for at least 2° F
intervals. These computations should be made for the expected temperature
distribution at least eight times throughout a year, twice during each
season, and should include the sinking plume conditions that may develop
each winter. Consideration should be given to the potential effects of
lake currents and stratification on the shape and extent of the thermal
discharge plume.
b. Present velocity contours in the thr.rr.al disrhrrgc plvtr.e
along with estimates or measurements of the tine-temperature relationship
that would exist in the discharge plume. Data should also be provided
on the tir.ic from the point where the water enters the condenser until
it is discharged to the lake.
c. Estimates should be made of the amount of entrainment of lake
water by the discharge plume, i.e. estimate the dilution of the heated
effluent that will occur.
d. Estimate the amount of recycle of water that will occur during
winter operating conditions when a portion of the discharge water is
returned to the intake in order to prevent freezing.
e. Measure ambient water temperature conditions in the region
of the discharge in order to establish the temperature and rate of change
of temperature under the normal and extreme meteorological conditions
that may exist in that area.
The definition of existing plumes should include consideration
of the use of drogues and aerial photography temperature imagery in order
to define plume conditions. All air-borne temperature studies should be
made with ground truth observations in order to check the reliabil : ':y
of them. During all thermal plume studies, an accurate record sho/ d be
kept of the intake and discharge temperatures as well as at least hourly
readings of plant load and discharge. This data should be collected for
-------
- 2 ~
at least the period (> hours prior to the initiation of the special purpose
study. Also the meteorological condition:", should bo read at at -least
hourly intervals during the special purpose studies on the plumes. It
will be important to try to define rno plume characteristics as a function
of plant operating condition.'; and meteorological conditions. All plant,
lake and meteorological factors that are likely to influence the shape
and extent of the plu:::e should be monitored prior to and during any study
on the characteristics of the plume.
II. Environmental Considerations
A. Sampling station locations should be established using a
grid system, and each station should be marked with a permanent buoy.
In lieu of this requirement, shipboard or land based navigation may be
used provided that it accurately locates the sampling stations used in
the study. The sampling grid should provide a sufficient number of samples
to accurately describe aquatic organisms and water quality characteristics
within and in the area adjacent to the thermal discharge plume. Where
possible, sampling stations within the plume shall be established at the
2° F'f isolir.es.
B. The parameters and frequency of sampling used in these studies
shall be chosen to give a known degree of precision for each potentially
significant effect of the thermal discharge on water quality in the region
of discharge and Lake Michigan as a whole. The degree of precision shall
be such that it is normally attainable with the best technology available
f"OflflV rrMi'> 1° m7p c t -i c*n t-riT- chf''!''' l-oo-^ aKT-^^cf r\ f r\o-\-ra 1 or>-tia n t- c =r>r! TIC.TT
•> -"' ~~ --•->' ......... r -- -- ---- r -------- ----- %
technology In this area and incorporate them into the study where it is
found that the now technology may significantly improve the ability to
detect the effects of thermal discharges on water quality. If a change
is made in the analytical procedure during the course of this study, a
limited scope study should be conducted in order to establish within a
reasonable degree of certainty the relationship between the measurements
made with the old and new analytical procedure.
The frequency and location of sampling shall be done in a
manner so as to detect any potentially significant effect of the thermal
discharge on water quality. The investigator should establish a tower
in the lake for noniteriuq- meteorological and ambient lake conditions
in the region of the discharge plume. This meteorological station should
be equipped with instruments for measurements, at a minimum, of, wind
speed and direction, air temperature, dew point, solar radiation, net
radiation, water temperature and currents at various depths, wave heights
and frequencies and lake levels.
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1. Fish
(i) Sample at least eight times per year; twice during
each season as a minimum.
(ii) Fishery personnel to determine most appropriate
techniques for collection.
(iii) Record number of species, length, weight, and
collect scale sample for aging.
(iv) Spawning areas and activities: Numbers and types
of juvenile fish found in the area.
The objective of the fish studies shall be to determine the
numbers, types, characteristics and activities of the fish populations
of existing or proposed thermal discharge plumes. Particular attention
shall be given to the affect of the plume on the distributions of fish
populations for each season of the year. Information on the numbers
and types of fish found in the discharge plume at various times of the
year is essential. Particular note should be made of the potential effects
of the thermal discharge plume on fish migration. Doef the plume inhibit
fish migration? Are fish prevented from returning to selected areas for
spawning in the region of the plume? Finally, the effects of the intake
on fish populations shall be determined.
2. Benthic Macro Invertebrates
(i) Bimonthly collections at permanent stations.
Sufficient numbers of samples shall be taken at
any one location to detect potentially significant
changes in the numbers and types of macro
invertebrates between sampling locations and sampling
dates.
(ii) Sampling equipment will be determined by bottom
type, and shall provide representative samples of
the bottom fauna. All benthic fauna retained in
a No. 30 mesh sieve shall be enumerated and
identified to genera where possible.
3. Plankton
(i) Collections to be made over at least a one week
period of intensive study in spring, summer and
fall and where possible in the winter, at permanent
stations.
(ii) Utilize standard collection techniques which record
volume of water sampled.
(iii) Record percent composition and chlorophyll content.
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Zooplankton may be collected by towing metering zooplankton
nets, using conditions which nrc known to give reliable estimates of
zooplankton population in the area being sampled. The phytoplankton shall
be collected by discrete water sampling, i.e., do not use nets. The depth
of sampling for the plankton shall be chosen to give an accurate estimate
of the plankton populations in the region being sampled. The plankton
shall be enumerated and identified to At least genera (identify major species)
where possible with emphasis on food chain relationships.
A. Attached Algae, Macrophytes and Periphyton
'The amount and types of attached algae, macrophytes and
periphyton within the discharge plume and adjacent areas shall be determined
during the late spring, mid-suir.rr.er and early fall. This type of sampling
is often best done by divers and manual collection. Record the amounts
of benthic algc. : found in terms of mass per square meter of bottom.
Sufficient numbers of.samples should be taken at any one location to provide
a reliable estimate with a known degree of precision in the sampling area
in order to detect the high degree of reliability differences in the benthic
algae biomass between sampling locations at: any one sampling time and
between sampling times. Consideration should be given to the use of artificial
substrates whic'; should be placed in the thermal plume discharge area and
in adjacent areas in order to ascertain whether there might be a change in
the periphyton as a result of the discharge.
5. Bacteriological
To be collected every month in season if appropriate.
Fecal coli.form, fecal streptococci and total plate count should be made.
6. Water Temperature and Currents
(i) Continuous monitoring, of intake and effluent.
(ii) Profiles at one foot depth intervals at permanent
stations every two weeks with due allowance for
adverse weather conditions. Note that surface and
subsurface drogues, coupled with aerial photography,
could provide a synoptic picture of the current
patterns.
7. Water Chemistry
(i) Dissolved oxygen profiles to be made every two
veeks at permanent 'stations. Define extent of
dissolved oxygen supersaturation in the thermal
discharge plume. Determine area of thermal
discharge plume with 110 percent or greater dissolved
oxygen-dissolved nitrogen supersaturation. Estimate
dissolved nitrogen supersaturation. Detc'...ine
area for each season. The fish sampling should
take special note of the areas with 110 percent or
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- 5 -
greater dissolved oxygen-dissolved nitrogen
superraturation. The numbers and types of fish
within this area should be determined if at all
possible, especially during the winter period.
(ii) Residual chlorine if used for algae control in the
system. Measure total and free available chlorine
in the thermal discharge plume using aniperometric
procedure. Determine areas where total chlorine
exceeds 5/tcp,/l in the discharge plume at various
seasons of the year.
(iii) Dissolved copper, cadmium and zinc if present in
the discharge to be measured at monthly intervals.
Four times a year detsrmine mercury, boron, arsenic,
iron, chromium, nickel, lead and manganese in the
thermal discharge of the power plant.
(iv) A complete list of all chemicals used at the plant
which could potentially be in the discharge should
be provided. At quarterly intervals, the amounts
of these chemicals present in the discharge should
be determined.
(v) Nutrient series and other chemical parameters
(total inorganic nitrogen, total organic carbon,
specific conductance, sodium, potassium, fluoride.
sulfate, silicon, color, turbidity, BOD, ammonia,
nitrate, nitrite, total phosphorus, soluble
phosphorus, pH, hardness and alkalinity) to be
collected at designated permanent stations once
a month. Samples should be collected one foot
below the surface, mid-depth, and one foot above
the bottom where appropriate.
8. Bottom and Sediments
(i) The lake bottom topography should be mapped in
the vicinity of the outfall at least four times
per year (once per season).
(ii) Sediment movements and the type and characteristics
of the sediments should be determined in the outfall
vicinity.
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- 6 -
III. Special Studies
a. Effect on fish fry, fish eggs and plankton by passage through
condenser.
All special purpose studies designed to simulate the passage of
materials through the condensers shouid use a time- temperature relationship
which is typical for that found in the discharge waters from the point of
the condenser to the discernnble edge of the thermal plur;e. Actual sampling
of the condenser discharge water should be done in a manner such that it
is representative of the water mass. The organisms should be held for
a sufficiently 'tone period of time to detect any substantial changes that
might occur as a result of damage in passing through the condenser.
b. Effects of intake structures on aquatic life.
c. Estimate cost and potential beneficial uses of waste heated
water.
d. Estimate cost and potential detrimental effects of alternate
methods of c'ooling on environmental quality.
IV. . Other Factors to Consider
Consider, and where possible, evaluate any other discharges in
the region of the plant which might influence water quality in the thermal
pi '.imp rlicrrh.^rg? =re?.. An accursts rccor- shall be kept
of chemicals to Lake Michigan in the region of thp discharge plume area.
This should incJude vsters which have been in contact with ash pits for
fossil fuel plants, boiler and other blowdown waters, cooling tower
Slowdown if they are used, discharge of sanitary waste, etc. The concentrations,
total amounts, frequency of discharge, and volumes should be recorded in
order to assess the total load and possible significance of the various
chemicals added to the lake on water quality in the region of the plant.
JKM:jmm
3-22-72
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941
P. Oppenheimer
MR. CURRIE: Mr. Chairman, there is one additional
3 witness who wished to make a statement from Illinois. I was
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
1*
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
not aware of him when I called for additional witnesses.
Four minutes, I am told.
STATEMENT OF PAUL OPPENHEIMER,
HYDE PARK-KENWOOD COMMUNITY CONFERENCE,
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
MR. OPPENHEIMERs Mr. Chairman, members of the
conference. I am Paul Oppenheimer and I am making this
statement for the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference.
We have over 2,000 member families.
I swim in Lake Michigan almost every day from late
spring to fall for the last 30 years. In the forties and
early fifties the water was as clear as a mountain stream,
and you could see right down to the bottom along the shore.
Today when I swim under water I can hardly see my own hands.
Thanks to the fact that United States Steel and
the other industrial law violators use Lake Michigan as a
dump for their waste materials, we have slimy and slippery
algae growing all over the rocks at the shore and on the
lake bottom, announcing the high degree to which Lake
Michigan has gone down the drain already. It is not unusual
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942
I P. Oppenheimer
2 for United States Steel to spend large suras of money for
3 advertising, money they should spend to remove their waste
4 materials. A number of municipalities throw their untreated
5 or half-treated wastes into the lake, too. The poor, starv-
6 ing millionaires of Highland Park, for instance, could not
7 afford to build a satisfactory treatment plant. They prefer
to watch from their $200,000 mansions high up on the shore
9 when their own excrements flow undisturbed into the lake.
10 (Laughter)
11 Now, to top it all, half a dozen utilities want
12 to build nuclear powerplants which are designed to use
13 tremendous quantities of lake water and want to dump it
14 back into the lake, heated up some 20°. There can be no
15 doubt that, added to the already existing and continuing
16 abuse of Lake Michigan, this will, in the long run, make
17 Lake Michigan unfit to support life, destroy recreational
activities along its shores, and endanger our drinking
19 water.
20 Besides, these atomic reactors are not even safe.
21 Many prominent scientists, including A.EC staff members
22 have testified to their belief that the emergency core cool-
ing system as it exists today will not cool the core in
time to prevent melting down, and consequent release of
2 5 fatally high concentrations of radioactive gases.
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943
•i P. Oppenheimer
2 If constructed at all, nuclear powerplants should
be on sites away from the lake. They should never be allowed
to damage the lake by returning heated water into it. The
Council on Environmental Quality states in its latest report
that $267 billion will be needed over the next 10 years to
keep pollution under control, with a cost of $100 to every
g j individual taxpayer. May I ask: What sense does it make
9 to give the utilities license to misuse and damage the lake,
10 make millions of dollars in profits in the process, and then
11 have the taxpayers spend dollars in the billions to repair
12 the damage do^-o by the issue of licenses which should not
13 have been issued in the first place? All I can say is that
14 these utilities don't seem to hesitate to make our country j
i
15 thu greatest welfare state on earth, and themselves the
16 recipients of this welfare.
17 It is the duty of the Federal and State authori-
ties to protect the lake. That does include the Atomic
19 Energy Commission. Lake Michigan is the property of all
20 the people, and no private interests have any right to use
21 it for financial gains at the expense of the quality of
its waters.
3 Thank you, gentlemen.
MR. MAYO: Thank you, sir. (Applause)
25
' Are there any other presentations?
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944
Closing Remarks - F. Mayo
The general practice of the conference at the
£f
3 reconvened sessions is that following the presentation of
material by the interested parties, the conferees will then
5 go into Executive Session at some appropriate time for the
5 j purpose of discussing that record and developing conclu-
7 sions and recommendations.
3 There has been an opportunity to discuss an
Q appropriate date for an Executive Session with the conferees,
10 They are in general agreement that November 9 and 10 would
11 be an appropriate time. There has been no decision so far
12 as time and place are concerned.
13 i want to thank those who have endured. It has
14 indeed been a very trying day for all of the parties
15 involved. I want to express the appreciation of the con-
16 ferees to those who have come and stayed with us in an effort
17 to ensure that all those interested in getting statements
13 into the record were able to do so.
19
20 Are there any comments as far as the conferees
21 are concerned? With that, gentlemen, the Fourth Session of
22 the Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference is adjourned.
23 (The Conference adjourned at 11:59 p.m.)
24
25 (Documents received following the conference
are included at the end of this volume.)
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NAmE OF AGENCY
EPA, REGION V
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60606
ACCOUNTING CLASSIFICATION
PRECEDENCE
ACTION
INFO
TYPE OF MESSAGE
[Xj SINGLE fj BOOK
~ MULTI-ADDRESS
THIS BLOCK FOR USE OF COMMUNICATIONS UNIT
U
R
I
T
Y CLASSIFICATION
STANDARD FORM 14 REV MARCH 15, 1957
GSA REGULATION 2 IX-203 04
14-303
TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGE
OFFICIAL BUSINESS
U. S. GOVERNMENT
MESSAGE TO BE TRANSMITTED (Use double spacing and all capital letters)
HONORABLE ADLAI E. STEVENSON III
UNITED STATES SENATE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510
IN REGARD TO YOUR WIRE TO ME AS CHAIRMAN OF THE LAKE MICHIGAN ENFORCE-
MENT CONFERENCE, YOUR EXPRESSION OF CONCERN OF THE DAMAGES OF THERMAL
POLLUTION IN LAKE MICHIGAN IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
THE FOURTH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE ADJOURNED ON SEPTEMBER 21, 1972
AFTER THREE DAYS OF EXTENSIVE TESTIMONY ON A NUMBER OF ISSUES IN-
CLUDING THE THERMAL ISSUE. I SHARE YOUR CONCERN ON THE QUESTION OF
THERMAL POLLUTION. TOWARD THAT END, THE CONFERENCE RECORD WILL BE
STUDIED BY THE CONFERREES PRIOR TO RECONVENING IN EXECUTIVE SESSION
ON NOVEMBER 9 AND 10, 1972 AT THE PICK CONGRESS HOTEL IN CHICAGO TO
MAKE FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS ON PROTECTING THE LAKE FROM ADVERSE
HEAT DISCHARGES. THE CONFERENCE WILL ALSO BE RECONVENED IN EXECUTIVE
SESSION ON OCTOBER 25 AND 26, 1972 AT THE SHERATOiJ-CHICAGO HOTEL TO
CONSIDER ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS ON NON-THERMAL ASPECTS OF THE
CONFERENCE. YOU ARE MOST CORDIALLY WELCOME TO ATTEND BOTH SESSIONS.
FRANCIS T. MAYO
REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR
REGION V
THIS COL. FOR AGENCY USE
cc:
LMEC File
PAGE NO
1
NO OF PAGES
1
NAME AND TITLE OF ORIGINA
ORIGINATOR'S TEL NO.
JAMES 0.
ENFORCEMENT DIVISION
I certify that this message is official bus
(Signature)
DATE AND TIME PREPARED
SEPTEMBER 25, 1972 11:00 A.M.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
UNCLASSIFIED
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western union
Telegram
LLB3U6 (25).(19>CTA137 WD156
W NFA080 EG INTER FR US GOVT PDB OTC NF WASHINGTON DC 191 09-21
526PEDT
MR FRANCIS MAYO, CHAIRMAN
LAKE MICHIGAN ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE i NORTH WACKER DR /CHICAGO
ILL
DELIVER DO NOT PHONE
I WULD L!KE T0 EXPRESS TO THF L/KFMICHIGAN ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE
ONCE AGAIN MY DEEP CONCERN OVER THE DANGERS OF THERMAL POLLUTION
IN LAKE MICHIGAN, THE NEED FOR
INCREASED RESERVES OF ELECTRICAL POWER IN THE MIDWEST MUST BE
BALANCED AGAINST PRESERVATION OF THE ECOLOGY OF THE LAKE.
UNTIL SUFFICIENT DATA, PROVING BEYOND ALL DOUBT THAT HEATED
DISCHARGES ARE NOT THE CAUSE OF SIGNIFICANT ECOLOGICAL HARM,
CAN BE GATHERED FROM THOSE FEW PLANTS PRESENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION,
FURTHER CONSTRUCTION OF THE MANY FACILITIES CURRENTLY IN THE
SF-1201 (R6-69)
FLANKING
STAGE SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED,
I REITERATE MY POSITION AS PRESENTED TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
1971 LAKE MICHIGAN ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE THAT FUTURE CONSTRUCTION
OF NUCLEAR PLANTS WITHOUT A TESTED LAKEWIDE STANDARD DERIVED
FROM AND APPLIED TO THOSE PLANTS PRESENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
WOULD BE A GRAVE MISTAKE ENDANGERING THE FUTURE OF THE LAKE
AND THE LIVES OF THOSE MILLIONS WHO DEPEND UPON IT FOR THEIR
WELL- BEING
I STAND READY
READY TO WORK WITH THE CONFERENCE IN IMPLEMENTING THESE
RECOMMENDATIONS IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE INTERESTS OF THE CITIZENS
OF THE MIDWEST ARE BEST SERVED IN TERMS OF ADEQUATE POWER RESOURCES
AND PROTECTION FOR LAKE MICHIGAN
SM201 (R5At)LAI E, STEVENSON III UNITED STATES SENATE,
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f / I/ \~/l/ffftS/ INC.
7000 N. Westnedge Avenue
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Kalamazoo, Michigan 49007
Telephone (616) 381-1574
September 21, 1972
Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference
Francis T. Mayo
1 North Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Dear Sir:
The Board of Trustees of the Kalamazoo Nature Center of
Kalamazoo, Michigan, were shocked and concerned about
the condition of the waters of Lake Michigan as reported
by the Enforcement Conference.
We urge that the Enforcement Conference adopt stringent
standards to insure protection of water quality of the
lake.
Please include this in the record of the Enforcement
Conference proceedings .
Very truly yours,
Daniel R.
President, Board of Trustees
DRS/vg
RESEARCH EDUCATION CONSERVATION
(7 This is recycled paper — please use it again
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THE ROE£ Of ZAtiD USE MANAGEMENT AMD ACCELERATED
EUTROPHICATION OF LAKE MICHIGAN
The biosphere consists of many interacting ecosystems. There
is a multitude of interacting biological and physical factors within
«ach of these ecosystems. Mankind has greatly altered most of these
systtaae, and we &re now having to try and correct some of the
of ttis*? manipulations. We ere just beginning to become
of some of the ramification? of the changes that we have
brought about In these ecosystems. One of these has been the increase
in rate of eutrophication of Lake Michigan. Many of the changes in
thase system involve alteration of land use patterns.
The general nature of the natural systems in the Lake Michigan
watershed have been briefly examined in an attempt to determine causes
for the denudation of water quality in the lake. A major input into
the lake ol" t»;,e element phosphorous has been demonstrated to come
fs?om sedimentation in the basin. This relationship between land use
ar«d management and accelerated eutrophieation of the lake is the topic
of this ^Testimony.
Forested communities which dominated the region surrounding the
lake are very effective in trapping and cycling plant nutrients. The
boll of the trees contain considerable quantities of nitrogen, phos-
phorous, and other necessary plant nutrients. Soil erosion and sedi-
mentation from these kinds of plant communities were insignificant.
The result of these processes was a very low attrition of nutrient/
sediments into the lake.
Phosphorous is an element which is a plant nutrient frequently
involved in accelerated eutrophieation of waters. Ground water sources
do not contain large concentrations of phosphorous because the soils
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* ''QO*.
%*. ^**
*«v, «v ***
>
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ill the wsttrihtd effectively filter out moat of the phosphorous
from tht percolating waters. Hit form la which this is held Is
dependent upon tht pM or reaction of tht soil system. One* •roslon
of tits soil matrix tskss pises, then large Quantities of the phos-
phorous may enter the lake.
Two land usas will be examined in sons detail to emphasise
the necessity of placement of high level priorities on land use
ginning and implementation. Tht firat is agricultural fend ust.
Major technological changes have taken place in this industry during
tht last twenty years. There has been an abrupt change to much
larger and more efficient farming equipment, increased uses of pesti-
cides and fertiliser* and alteration of many associated agronomic or
cultural practices, The small diversified farm has suddenly become a
fee»ed corporation. These alterations have resulted in
chains in tht input act of agriculture on the environment.
The monoculture system of much of modern agriculture has increased
the need for peat control and fertiliser use but perhaps the moat Impor-
tant change has bean in soil erosion control. Small fields of pasture
land, small grains and row crops can be arranged in s landscape so
that minimal amounts of sedlmtnt art lost from an agricultural area.
This is not the case with many modem farms which art dependent upon
Urge fields of a single crop. A tragic loss in soil erosion control
practices such as contour atrip cropping, grata waterways, and terraces
has also resulted from these changes in land management.
The Soil Conservation Service remains the primary agency respon-
sible for soil erosion control in this country. This federal agency
does considerable conservation planning on amll watersheds through
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the P.L. 566 projects. These projects potentially remain the best
alternative to the "cement, steel, end large dam" philosophy of the
U.S Corps of Army Engineers. The email watershed projecta do Include
corner vat ion planning in the basin but unfortunately many of these
plans are never implemented. Agreements between Soil Conservation
District Cooperators and the Soil Conservation Service are not binding*
The Soil Conservation Service has drifted off into the cement and
Steel philosophy of the Corps of Army Engineers many times instead of
dealing with the real problem of getting each acre of land used within
its capability. Channelization and dam construction are not viable
substitutes for good land management. They tend to treat only the
symptoms of man's mismanagement rather than the causes.
fhe seec* d lasid use problem that directly deals with the sediment/
eutrophication process going on in Lake Michigan is the disturbance
resulting from construction projects, this disturbance of soil and
vegetation results in massive losses of sediment when adequate controls
have not been installed. Disturbance of the vegetation and subsequent
exposure of the mineral soil results in erosion. Again, this sediment
becomes a major water pollutant. The technology to control these
inputs of phosphorous into the lake clearly exists and the socio-
economic costs are quite low.
The importance of land-use planning in the restoration or main-
tenance of a quality environment cannot be overstated. The soil and
other associated resources are the basis upon which man survives on
this planet. The capabilities of these resources should therefore
be very carefully evaluated when dealing with any environmental problem.
The basic planning procedures suggested here have already been developed
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and utilized. Ian M&lavg'B wodk in the Minneapolis and St. Paul and
Baltimore areas has developed practical methods of using this kind of
information.
The following are some recommendations for dealing with this
problem and its solution:
1. To emphasize the in^ortance of broad-scale land-use
planning in all attempt* to preserve or restore the
quality of the water in Lake Michigan.
2« To work for some alteration in procedures and practices
to place greater enphasis on land-use planning by the
Soil Conservation Service. For exanple, binding agree-
ments concerning land use could be made a part of the P.L.
566 program.
3. To reeonroend the establishment of regional erosion or
sediment control laws—i.e.* similar to the one recently
passed in the State of Iowa*
H. To reec^iime and stress in all planning and control
activi";-fee the interrelationships between natural resources.
aU.S.Government Printing Office: 1974— 751-197
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