Yesterday, I blogged about the effects of thermal pollution from nuclear power plant cooling water on marine ecosystems. Today, I am going to talk about a specific case of problems related to the cooling system of the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station in Florida that ultimately dumps cooling water into Biscayne Bay near Miami. I have blogged about Turkey Point before.)
The Florida Power & Light owns and operates the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station in Miami-Dade County, about twenty five miles south of Miami, Florida. The plant has two nuclear power reactors and two generating units that burn oil or natural gas and one natural gas generating unit. The nuclear reactors are Westinghouse pressurized water reactors that generates about seven hundred megawatts each. The TPNGS supplies southern Florida with a combined capacity of over three thousand megawatts and is the sixth largest power plant in the U.S. Two additional nuclear reactors have been approved for construction which will begin in 2017.
The Turkey Point plant has a network of canals that extend for one hundred and sixty eight miles. The canals act as a giant radiator to cool the water from the nuclear reactors. In 2012, the two reactors were upgraded to produce more power. In the three years since the upgrade, the water in the canals has been getting hotter and hotter. Over the summer of 2014, problems caused by thermal pollution increased in severity. There was a huge algae bloom which required the plant to power down the reactors twice.
In response to the problems, the FP&L filed an emergency request with the South Florida Water Management District for permission to pump fresh water from L-31 Everglades project as well as water from the south Florida aquifer into the canal network. The also asked for permission to raise their operating temperature up to one hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit. This is the highest temperature for any nuclear power plant in the country. Critics of the request were concerned that drawing more water and dumping more heat into the canal system would put unacceptable stress on a water supply already being overused by increasing demands.
Part of the arrangement to deal with the problems at the Turkey Point plant included a provision for increased water monitoring at the plant and the surrounding area. In September of 2014, the water sampling showed that the level of ammonia was beginning to rise. In November of 2015, the salinity of the water around Turkey point began rising and the ammonia content was still rising.
Tropical Audubon, an environmental organization, had been complaining about Biscayne Bay needing more fresh water to deal with increasing salinity related to years of flood control projects. They lost a legal bid to stop more fresh water withdrawals from sources in the area. During the legal process, they came across the information about increasing ammonia levels. They claim that the increased demand for water had stirred up pollution and forced it to the surface of the network of canals in the area endangering Biscayne Bay.
Critics of the theory of Tropical Audubon point out that the levels of ammonia in the water are higher near the Turkey Point power plant. They say that five years of monitoring water quality do not indicate that the canal system has impacted Biscayne Bay. TA responded that the canal system is now operating at a higher temperature than ever before and that is causing new problems. TA says that authorities have failed to thoroughly study the effect of the higher temperature on aquatic life around Turkey point and in the canals where crocodiles nesting has been declining.
Authorities are calling for more water sampling and studies to determine exactly what is happening to the waterways and what is causing it. If the nearby nuclear power reactors are contributing significantly to the problems, perhaps it is time to reconsider the addition of two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point.
Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station:
