Every day the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station remains in operation, it further jeopardizes the fragile marine life in the waters near the plant. For this reason, I have written state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bradley Campbell urging him to take the strongest possible stance and deny the plant’s thermal discharge permit that is currently under review.
I have also written to mayors and legislators who oppose the plant’s relicensing efforts to join me in lobbying the DEP to enforce the Clean Water Act. Such enforcement would require its owner, Exelon, to install the best available technology, closed cycle cooling, which would greatly reduce the risk of fish kills.
However, this could all become a moot issue if Exelon would answer my challenge to turn the 800-acre site into a renewable energy center. Whether it be wind, solar, biomass or hydrogen fuel cell technology, Exelon could lead the way and avoid pouring money into a nuclear reactor that is outdated and antiquated. Renewable energy is the wave of the future, and Ocean County could become the standard bearer of environmentally friendly energy production.
In the meantime, every day the plant draws 1.2 billion gallons out of the creek to cool down the reactor and then pumps this heated water back into the creek. Fish are attracted to the warmer waters that are discharged. During the planned or emergency shut-downs, these same fish can be killed as the water temperature becomes scalding or drops suddenly.
Fish kills are not foreign to Oyster Creek. The plant was responsible for the largest fish kill ever in New Jersey in 2002 — over 6,000 fish. This episode was followed by one of the largest fines ever levied by the DEP.
It doesn’t stop at fish kills from thermal shock, either. Keep in mind that the plant discharges over a billion gallons of water each day collected from water intakes along the Forked River. Despite grates over the intakes, this water flushing creates powerful suctioning that brings with it an assortment of aquatic life.
Some of it is small – spawn, eggs and larvae. Some of it is larger — striped bass, white perch, menhaden and even the endangered sea turtle. The aquatic life becomes pinned to the grate, where they often die from the rush of oncoming water.
The current thermal discharges allowed at the plant have every day environmental impacts on marine life in Oyster Creek, and the wider Barnegat Bay. The discharge creates a thermal plume that travels much farther than the outfall, creating a “fry” zone for young larvae and spawn.
A closed cooling system, which reduces the amount of water needed to cool a nuclear plant by over 95 percent, has become the industry standard since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. By eliminating the extensive intake and discharge cycle, the threat of fish kills is greatly reduced.
The DEP has the law on its side to force Exelon to abandon a 1960s technology that is destructive to our marine environment and fishing industry. We in Ocean County deserve this protection of our waters.
Joseph C. Scarpelli
Mayor
Brick