Did You Know? Closed-Cycle Cooling and the Pilgrim Power Plant

“Did You Know?” Closed-Cycle Cooling and Pilgrim Power Plant

By Shalen Lowell

Photo from: Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger,

“Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant”

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Did you know that every day the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Massachusetts absorbs 510 million gallons of water from Cape Cod Bay? In operation since 1972 and owned by Entergy, the Pilgrim Station poses a continual threat to the surrounding ecosystem and residences, due to its outdated, once-through cooling system. Last May, Pilgrim renewed its 20-year operating license, and this action further motivated activists to unceasingly protest its ongoing harm to the ecological community.

Pilgrim runs on a once-through cooling system, in which it sucks in water  from the Bay. That water absorbs heat from the plant operations and is then discharged. This “once-though” water can be up to 30 degrees warmer than the existing water in the Bay, which not only harms species that prefer cooler water, but which also enables the growth of invasive species.

Pilgrim is required to install screens to prevent larger organisms from getting sucked into the plant. However, fish often get impinged (or trapped) on these screens, and die as a result. Some smaller organisms are sucked through the screens and cycle through the cooling system with the water, in a process called entrainment. Very few organisms survive entrainment.

In a closed-cycle cooling system, however, after the water that a plant takes in circulates through the system, it is recycled through the reactor instead of being discharged. The heat in the water is removed in the process and is released into the atmosphere. Closed-cycle cooling does not emit warm, polluted water back into its source.

Photo from: Paul Rifkin/Cape Cod Today,

“Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant”

 http://www.capecodtoday.com

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The Pilgrim Station sits on the Plymouth-Carver Sole Source Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to residences in the area. Pilgrim is continuously contaminating Plymouth’s aquifer by polluting its groundwater. One way in which this occurs is through expulsion of a radioactive type of hydrogen called tritium, which combines with the oxygen in the 
water to make it radioactive. Another concern is the plant’s waste-water treatment facilities on site, which emit nitrogen into the water and contaminate the aquifer.

The Pilgrim Plant is one reason there is a drastic decline in river herring, specifically blueback herring and alewives, and they are thus species of great concern. In an annual report, “Impingement of Organisms on the Intake Screens at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station,” submitted to Entergy in 2010 by its consultant Normandeau Associates, Inc., alewife were the second most impinged fish, with a count of 12,680 trapped in Pilgrim’s screens. Herring, a source of food for larger marine mammals, face many adversities in their habitats in southeastern Massachusetts such as dams, pollution, and impingement, all of which contribute to low numbers of herring returning to streams to spawn.

Cape Cod Bay Watch, “Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Protest”

http://www.capecodbaywatch.org/2012/05/sagamore-bridge-protest/pilgrim-protest/

To draw attention to some of these issues surrounding the Pilgrim Station and to also celebrate World Oceans Day, Cape Cod Bay Watch sponsored a “Save Our Bay” Flotilla. This rally’s participants emphasized Pilgrim’s outmoded cooling system, suggesting its functionality is inefficient and harmful to the Cape Cod community. If Pilgrim were outfitted with a closed-cycle cooling system, its operations would reduce damage to Cape Cod Bay.

If you would like to volunteer and join the effort in improving water quality for the safety of your family and your environment, contact your local watershed association today. You can find out what watershed you live in and how to contact your watershed association, and learn more about the issues at www.watershedaction.org.

Next Stop, the Jones River watershed!

Our Blogger today is Shalen Lowell

Elm Street Dam, Kingston MA

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Jones River Watershed Association (JRWA) and the unique and beautiful Jones River watershed. This watershed is relatively small, and is self-contained in the town of Kingston. It begins upstream at Silver Lake and flows down and out to Kingston Bay. Although this watershed occupies a relatively small geographic area, it contains a multitude of unique ecological features such as coastal areas, cranberry bogs, and a glacial lake.

Led by JRWA intern Amy Meloski, we first stopped at Kingston Bay, to which the Jones River flows, as it winds through the watershed from Silver Lake. We journeyed upstream from the bay to Mulliken’s Landing, a canoe launch leading out to the Jones that was overgrown and out of care. The landing’s path was shrouded with overgrown bushes and vandalized benches. Should someone take up this project, the Landing would be a great recreational attraction for this downstream section of the watershed.

On our tour upstream, we encountered a road block at the Elm Street dam: the bridge there is under construction. There we saw the fish ladder which enables herring to traverse the dam and with which the JRWA observes herring counts. Though many herring pass along the river in this manner, smelt and shad are unable to get through. Like many of us, the JRWA is concerned with herring runs, which is an indicator of overall watershed health. Because herring counts are so crucial at the Elm St. dam, during April and May, the JRWA allows volunteers to assist with the herring counts, a great way to engage the public, to take ownership, and to get people involved in their local environment.

A refreshing walk along a wooded path led us to several more fish ladders which led up to a pond on higher ground. The fish ladders pass from the pond, down to the Jones River, bridging an earthen dam.

The last spot I saw was the glacial Silver Lake (see right). The lake provides drinking water for the town of Brockton and its water is pumped out to Brockton every day. This restricts river flow from the lake, and in times of low-flow or draught, can be cut off from the flow of the Jones almost entirely.

The JRWA’s primary concern is removing dams in the Jones River watershed, and eventually getting the fish back to Silver Lake. Many earthen dams in the area are coming to the end of their lives and must be disposed of instead of repaired. Dams are more expensive in the long run due to the initial costs of construction but also lifetime maintenance. Here I learned that a river is better left to flow naturally rather than be subjected to unneeded construction.

The JRWA dismantled one such dam not long ago: the Wapping Road dam which is one of the inactive, concrete dams abandoned after industrial development.

Possibly the JRWA’s most important investment is in environmental education. Not only does the association visit schools, but it also encourages student volunteering. Pine duBois is working with high school students to use one of the bog areas that still remains in the Three Rivers Basin to set up a sustainable business, selling and maintaining the cranberries in this area. The majority of the Three Rivers Basin, 29 acres previously used for cranberry bogs, is being restored to the habitats that used to occupy the Jones River along Pine Brook.

To visit the Jones River Landing’s website and learn more about the Jones River Watershed Association, please visit http://jonesriver.org/ or WAA’s site at http://watershedaction.org/. 

Our Visit to the Neponset Watershed

Our Blogger today is Shalen Lowell

Last Wednesday Dorie and I had the pleasure of touring the Neponset Watershed with Tom Palmer of the Neponset River Watershed Association. This watershed encompasses the towns of Canton and Norwood, as well as parts of Sharon, Foxborough, Stoughton, Walpole, Medfield, Dover, Randolph, Westwood, Dedham, Quincy, and Boston. Its highest point is the summit of Blue Hill in Canton at 636 feet.

One of our first stops was Fowl Meadow (see picture on left) near Great Blue Hill. This broad floodplain reaches eight miles upstream to Walpole alongside Rt 95 and absorbs a tremendous amount of water during storms, thus preventing flooding in crowded areas downstream. At one time, the meadow had been intended to be filled for housing and industrial development. Thankfully, it remains a natural space and a satisfying reminder of how much healthier our environment would be in the absence of suburban expansion.

As we headed downstream, we noticed a disturbing trend: the Neponset is often barred from sight by shopping centers and their parking lots. We ventured near one Stop and Shop, which boasted a six-foot high fence separating the lot from the trees that line the riverbank. Before extensive cleanup, the river used to be full of stagnant sewage, and people saw fit to conceal it. But now that the Neponset is relatively clear and much improved, its banks should be opened for people to enjoy. Frequently, the very people that live along the river know little about it, thanks to the thickets and fences that hide it from view.

We also noted that the parking lot was graded to allow runoff to flow straight off the pavement and into the river, and that several catchbasins discharged to it directly through pipes.  When development reaches to the top of the bank, extra work is required to filter stormwater. 

Near this particular site are the remains of a gutted paper mill and its still-standing dam. This dam is not in use, and the river pours through rusty holes in its decrepit gates. The dam should be demolished: it accomplishes nothing, and it prohibits fish from migrating upstream to spawn.

A few miles beyond we visited a second dam just above the Adams St. Bridge in Lower Mills between Milton and Boston. This one likewise has outlived its usefulness as the surrounding factories have been converted to condos. Eight feet high, it blocks ocean-run shad, herring, and smelt from entering the river. Restoring the Neponset will require removing both dams.

At the base of the lower dam the Neponset estuary begins. Below here the river widened, and I began to smell salt water, a sense which triggers nostalgia for my childhood summers spent sea-side.

We followed the estuary’s southern edge another five miles to Squantum Point Park in Quincy, where the Neponset empties into Dorchester Bay opposite the gas tank on the Southeast Expressway. This park, once a Navy airfield, is the result of one of the many initiatives to encourage outside recreation in the Neponset corridor. NepRWA is working to connect it via walking paths to the marshes upstream and to Wollaston Beach.

This overview is a mere small sample of our Neponset experience. These areas are best appreciated and enjoyed when encountered in person, and I encourage you to visit this stunning area and experience its plentiful beauty on your own! One way to do this is to go canoeing or hiking with the Neponset River Watershed Association. To visit their website, please see http://www.neponset.org/.

Click the links below to read more about Squantum Point and the Neponset River Trail.

Squantum Point Park: http://www.opengreenmap.org/greenmap/quincy-green-map/squantum-point-park-605

The Lower Neponset River Trail: http://bostonharborwalk.com/placestogo/location.php?nid=2&sid=63

Introducing Our Newest Intern: Shalen!

Hello everyone! My name is Shalen Lowell and I am the newest intern at the Watershed Action Alliance! I am a rising senior at Stonehill College in Easton, with an English major and an Environmental Humanities minor. In my spare time I love reading and writing, of course, and I aim to be a novelist in the coming years. In addition to my long-lived passion for the liberal arts, I posses a strong proclivity towards environmental activism, about which I have written many an article for Stonehill’s literary magazine, The Rolling Stonehill. I am also a member of Stonehill’s Activism Club. One of my favorite novels is Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael.

I have a strong connection with coastal areas that hearkens back to my childhood days in York, Maine, and to this day, for me water is a symbol of revival and is a sanctuary. Water's importance not only extends to humans, but to the global ecosystem, of which we are but a fraction. I posses a sense of responsibility, because of my nostalgia and emotional connection with coastal areas and waterways, to protect our Earth's water supply and its quality, which is one of the reasons I am excited to work with the Watershed Action Alliance. I want to use writing and reporting to the best of my ability to spread awareness and change the deterioration of Massachusetts watersheds, but also of our world and its multi-faceted environments.

Some of my other interests include Japanese anime/manga, Sci-Fi/Fantasy culture, and hockey (go Boston Bruins!). I love driving, biking, and walking with my dogs Holly and Riley.

Over the course of the summer, I will be writing posts and sharing news and events on the WAA’s blog, so you will hear from me very soon!

Look out for a post on about our tour through the Neponset Watershed this coming week.

I look forward to my summer with the WAA, and I hope you all enjoy hearing from me!

~Shalen