Campaign Update:

The DEP announced in early February, 2010, that the Millstone Station must renew a water discharge permit that will require the owner to take several steps to protect marine life:

• Instillation of new technology shown to reduce the intake of cooling water by approximately 40 percent during spawning seasons (April to Mid May). This must be done by January 2011. Reducing the intake of cooling water will reduce kills to fish, fish eggs and fish larvae.
• By 2010, Millstone must produce a detailed assessment of all available technologies that minimizes harm to the environment including fish net screens to prevent the death of winter flounder by 2012.
• Conduct a detailed study of how to improve the natural reproduction of winter flounder in the Niantic River.

Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Waterford sits on the Long Island Sound and generates 2,037 megawatts (MW) of power for Connecticut. Nuclear power plants produce electricity by heating water using nuclear fission to produce steam. All nuclear plants need to use water as a cooling agent.

Since 1975, Millstone has used a “once-through cooling system” that takes in 2 billion gallons of water per day from LI Sound—enough to fill 110,000 swimming pools. The water is sent through condenser tubes, and then discharged into the Sound at higher temperatures-as much as 40°F warmer. In addition to the thermal pollution, Millstone’s outdated cooling technology has taken a serious toll on the Sound’s fisheries. This system kills large quantities of aquatic life. Documented from 1976-2003, Millstone has killed more than 159 billon larvae, eggs, juveniles, and adult fish for the seven fish species recorded. Mortalities from the archaic cooling system result from one of three ways:

• Entrainment – the capture of aquatic organisms with the cooling water through the intake,
• Impingement – the fatal pinning of organisms too large to fit through the mesh screens, or
• Thermal shock from the elevated temperatures altering habitat and fish migration patterns in Long Island Sound.

Connecticut Marine Species are Floundering

The winter flounder, a once commercially viable species, has been devastated over the years from overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, and warmer waters. The winter flounder is only one of many CT marine organisms adversely affected by the increased temperatures and Millstone’s intake system. Millstone is located in a federally designated essential fish habitat and the adjacent Niantic Bay is an area of marked population declines.

Closed-Cycle Cooling is the Solution!

A closed-cycle system, also called a “closed-loop system,” is proven technology that draws water in for cooling, re-circulates it, and expels the heat through cooling towers instead of discharging into our Long Island Sound.Closed-cycle cooling reduces water intake by 90% and dramatically decreases the number of fish, eggs, and larvae destroyed by once-through systems. Approximately 40% of our nation’s nuclear plants (42 out of 104 units) already operate with closed-cycle cooling systems, and so can Millstone!

As authorized by the Clean Water Act (CWA), utilities are required to use the Best Technology Available to adequately protect our waterways, including the Long Island Sound. Since Millstone’s CWA discharge permit expired in December of 1997 the plant has been operating under an emergency authorization. In December 2007, the CT Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that Millstone should conduct a four year feasibility study to determine if closed-cycle cooling was the best technology available with a cost benefit analysis on this option. A closed loop system is the most protective and should be mandated by DEP! Cce has found overwhelming support and has collected 7534 letters urging DEP to not be allowed to drag its feet and continue damaging the Sound’s marine life citing financial burdens. Damaging marine life damages our local and regional economy. The DEP must require Millstone to adopt closed- loop cooling to protect our Long Island Sound! Your voice is still needed to urge for a closed loop system.

How you can help:
Write a letter to DEP Commissioner Amy Marella and Governor Jodi Rell and tell them you support the DEP issuing a final permit requiring a closed-cycle cooling system at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station and four years is too long to wait! Please share your desire for marine life protection and a healthy Long Island Sound.

Letter writing tips:

• Print your name and address under your signature.
• Make sure your letter is legible and in your own words.
• Focus your letter on the value of Connecticut’s marine life to you and your family.
• Tell Commissioner Marella and Governor Rell:
• Millstone must stop devastating our fisheries.
• The best solution is a closed-cycle cooling system to protect the Long Island Sound ecosystem.
• DEP must adopt a final Clean Water permit requiring the best technology available.
• Please add a stamp to the letter, if possible.

Please send a copy of any response you receive to CCE’s Hamden office – it helps us track progress on the issue. Thanks!

Write to:

Governor Jodi Rell State Capitol 210 Capitol Avenue Hartford, CT 06106

Commissioner Amy Marella CT Department of Environmental Protection 79 Elm Street Hartford, CT 06106

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Licensed to Kill: How the Nuclear Power Industry Destroys Endangered Marine Wildlife and Ocean Habitat to Save Money

Updated by bferenz 3/23/10