ML19323G047
| ML19323G047 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png |
| Issue date: | 05/23/1980 |
| From: | Marx D VERMONT YANKEE NUCLEAR POWER CORP. |
| To: | Ippolito T, Rooney V Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8005300291 | |
| Download: ML19323G047 (11) | |
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A VERMONT YANKICIC NUCLICAR POWICR COR PORATION 1
,s SEVENTY SEVEN GROVE STREET RUTLAND, VERMONT 05 01 TELEPwC**E802 775 2964 f
May 23, 1980 Members of the Vermont Yankee Environmental Technical Advisory Committee Messrs.
David Clough Angelo Incerpi Terrence Frost Charles Thoits, III Stephen Henry Warren Kimball Gentlemen:
Attached are the draft minutes of The Vermont Yankee Environmental Technical Advisory Committee Meeting held in White River Junction, Vermont on May 9, 1980.
If you wish to formally amend the minutes, please telepnone me, otherwise they will stand until the next TAC meeting.
Sincerely, gf;yl?;
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Daniel J. Marx, Ph.D. - Secretar_y for_the Committee Manager of Environmental Services and Chief Biologist Attachment cc:
T.
Ippolito/V. Rooney - NRC R.
Burke J. Wilson, NRC J. Robinson W. Conway R. Marcello W.
Murphy T. Dignan/ J.
Ritsher J.
Pelletier A.
Keyes D. Weyman W. Countryman B.
Ball M.
McNeer S. McAvoy QC O%
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DRAFT MINUTES VERMONT YANKEE ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VERMONT R\\Y 9, 1980 1
i Present:
i David Clough, VT Department of Water Resources, Montpelier, VT Terrence Frost, NH Water Supply and Pollution Control Co=:n., Concord, NH Peter E. Brezosky, NH Department Fish & Game, Concord, NH Russell A. Nylander, NH Water Supply and Pollution Control Comm., Concord, NH j
Stephen Henry, MA Department of Fish and Wildlife, Westboro, MA Rocco A. Marcello, Yankee Atomic Electric Co., Westboro, MA William D. Countryman, Aquatec, Inc., Burlington, VT i
4 R. Mason McNeer, Aquatec, Inc., Burlington, VT Burton M. Ball, Vernont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation, Vernon, VT Daniel J. Mar:c, Vermont Yankee Nuc. lear Power Corporation, Rutland, VT l
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The minutes of the last meeting, September 28, 1979, were approved without change as final.
2.
Dr. Marx described recent Vermont Yankee organizational changes.
The technical functions, formerly centered in the Rutland l
office, will be relocated to an office in West Brattleboro closer to the plant.
Dr. Marx will remain in the Rutland office in the capacity of Manager of Environmental Services and Chief Biologist.
3.
Dr. Marx asked for comments from the Committee on the annual ecological report, number IX, which was mailed to the Committee 3
on April 15 for their review.
The Committee had no comments on the report.
Dr. McNeer presented a brief summary of selected i
" highlights" of the 1979 annual ecological report.
Fish impingement was similar to that observed in previous years on open cycle.
Relatively higher levels of turbidity and iron were observed at downstream Monitor 3 which were attributed to construction activity l
at the Vernon fish ladder.
Mr. Clough asked if any changes had been observed in benthic fauna sampling.
Dr. McNeer said that no l
shifts had been seen in the 1979 benthic-sampling that were out-side of previously observed variations.
Dr. Marx read a memorandum written by Robert Estabrook, water pollution biologist with the New
!!ampshire water Supply and Pollution Control Commission, based on his in-house review for Mr. Frost, of the 1979 ecological report.
(A copy of Mr. Estabrook's memo is attached to these minutes).
4.
In response to a question from Mr. Frost, Dr. McNeer said that j
the Ashuelot River, where it flows into the Connecticut downstream of the plant, visually appears to be considerably improved compared to its appearance over past years.
It was the opinion of the l
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Committee that the operation of Vermont Yankee in 1979 had a negligible impact on the ecosystem of the Connecticut river at Vernon.
5.
Dr. Marx presented an update of Vermont Yankee's ongoing activity to renew its NPDES permit from the State of Vermont Department of Water Resources.
The application for reissuance of the permit was submitted to the Vermont Department of Water Resources on December 31, 1979.
Vermont Yankee received a draft permit from the Agency of March 28, 1980.
The draft permit incorporated all of the changes that vermont Yankee had re-quested in their December 31, 1979 application.
On April 18, 1980, Vermont Yaakee staff met with Vermont Department of Water Resources staff in Montpelier to offer their comments on the Agency draft permit.
On April 25, Vermont Yankee enumerated those comments formally in a letter to the Agency and requested several new changes which had not initially been contained in the application of December 31, 1979.
6.
The additional requested changes in the Vermont Yankee letter of April 25, included:
a.)
Clarifying the reporting requirement of Vermont Yankee to notify the Secretary of the Agency when the mixed river temperature at downstream Monitor 3 first reaches 60 F in the Spring.
b.)
A request to initiate a test program to evaluate a condenser cleaning compound "Drewsperse-744".
c.)
A provision to allow for the periodic removal of silt from the intake structure and the cooling tower basins by pumping silt to a settling / sedimentation area on land on the plant site.
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Deletion from the biological monitoring program table of the
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section on "Ichthyoplankton Entrainment" in the spring months.
e.)
Additions (by request from Angelo Incerpi on April 18) of a section to the biological monitoring program table to monitor impingement three times a week from May 15 to June 30, on the service water travelling screens in the close-cycle mode, beginning in 1981.
7.
Mr. Countryman said that he feels that impingement monitoring on closed-cycle is unnecessary since that plant withdraws only 4
11 - 15 CFS from the river in the open-cycle mode.
Mr. Henry sold that shad are not impinged at other Connecticut river steam-electric plants and that species appears to be resistant to impingement.
8.
Mr. Clough said that the Vermont Agency of Environmental Conser-i vation is preparing a revised draft of the draft permit based on Vermont Yankee's comments and suggestions (supra) on the Agency first draft.
Mr. Clough said that to date, approximately 150 letters had been received by the Agency from people requesting a public hearing on the draft permit.
The public hearing on the NPDES final draft permit will be June 20 in the Brattleboro High School at 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Clough indicated that the letters of comment to date, have been of a general " anti-nuclear nature" and few specific water quality issucs of technical nature have that l
been raised.
The public hearing will be restricted by the Agency to specific issues on the renewal.
9.
Mr. Nylander said that to date the State of New Hampshire has
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not made a decision on formal participation in the Vermont NPDES hearing.
Mr. Prost said that he and his technical staff will recommend participation, but at this time he did not know to
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- 10. Mr. Marcello presented an update on Vermont Yankee efforts to amend the NRC environmental (non-radiological) technical specifications.
The technical aspects of the NPDES permit regarding effluent limitations and monitoring requirements have been accepted by the NRC staff for incorporation by reference to the NPDES permit as the NRC technical specifications.
There still exist several administrative differences which are in discussion between Vermont Yankee and the NRC.
As of this date, Vermont Yankee has submitted to the NRC a version of proposed environmental technical specifications which reference the effluent limitations and monitoring requirements of the NPDES permit and include Vermont Yankee's administrative format.
Mr. Marcello indicated that at this juncture "the ball is back in NRC's court".
11.
Mr. Countryman presented an update on the Atlantic salmon smolt radio tracking project.
Vermont Yankee has chosen the AVM Company of Champaign, Illinios as the equipment supplier for this project.
Five AVM receivers, and fifty radio tags were purchased.
Sixty-four smolt, age 1.5 years, ranging in length from 8 - 13 inches were obtained from the Roxbury, Vermont hatchery.
The fish were maintained in a constant flow (Living Stream) aquarium in the Monitor House at upstream station 7 to acclimate the fish to ambient river water.
Untagged fish have also been maintained in live boxes since May 5 in the river at station 5 (upstream control location) station 4.1 (300 feet off the discharge structure) and just above Vernon hydro station at the log' boom.
From April.
23 to May 12 (19 days) 17 smcit have been implanted with radio
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- transmitters (stomach) and released in Vernon pool between Brattleboro and the Vermont Yankee intake structure.
Of these seventeen, eight fish have been located and tracked below Vernon dam as far as Turners Falls.
Seven of the seventeen, were located above Vernon dam in various locations in Vernon pool, but not below, and some were presumably lost in passage through the turbines of the Vernon hydro plant.
(As of May 20, two of the original seventeen fish remain in the river: one is just above the Vernon hydro station intake gates (and is being fed by hydro station personnel} and one is three miles below the Vernon hydro station).
Individual fish are detectable since each radio tag is on a discreet frequency between 49 and 50 megahertz.
Mr. Cour.tryman acknowledged the valuable technical assistance pro-vided by Alexis Knight of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the AVM Company.
Vermont Yankee will probably continue this smoit tracking project next spring by which time the fish ladder at the Vernon hydro station will be completed.
Dr. Marx said that Vermont Yankee expects to conduct _p.odest radio tagging. efforts on i
smolt in the spring over the next several years, including possibly some radio tagging of upstream migrating adults.
The tracking efforts this spring included night tracking.
The efforts this spring, indicated that there is no apparent correlation with movement of the fish and the time of the day.
i.e.,
they did not tend to move at night any more than during the daylight hours.
12.
Dr. Marx distributed a notice (dated 3/7/80) which has been received by all nuclear power plant licensees from the NRC on the subject of the possible health hazard of a pathogenic
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w amoeba Naegleria fowleri associated with closed-cycle cooling.
This organism was found in the circulating water system of the Praire Island Nuclear Generating Plant on the Mississippi River south of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in Minnesota.
The discovery was made in November 1979 by the utilities environmental t
'I staff.
The condition was reported to the Nuclear Regulatory a
Commission by the utility and Dr. Richard Tyndall of the Oak i
Ridge National Laboratory recommended a hyper-chlorination (2 ppm free chlorine for 6 hours6.944444e-5 days <br />0.00167 hours <br />9.920635e-6 weeks <br />2.283e-6 months <br />) to reduce numbers of program The organism Naealeria fowleri _in the circulating water system.
occurs naturally as a soil-dwelling amoeba and the combination of the high water temperatures (above 28 C) and high populations of bacteria present ideal conditions for Naegleria's growth and Jim Wilson of the NRC and Dr. Richard Tyndall reproduction.
have told Dr. Marx that they do not believe that NRC will be Dr. Marx requiring further follow-up on their initial notice.
l said that he contacted Dr. Tyndall at Oak Ridge and asked for a method for sampling and sending water samples to the Oak Ridge
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Laboratory for cultivation and examination for the presence or Naegleria fowleri.
A few samples will be taken by Dr. Marx is on during the summer months at Vermont Yankee while the plant Dr.
close-cycle for examination by the Oak Ridge laboratory.
Tyndall told Dr. Marx that based on a description of the Vermont and mode of operation that he-Yankee circulating water system would not expect the organism to be found.
It appears that most state department's of health are aware of the public health
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4 potential of Naegleria fowleri infections, but do not regard the organism as a serious public health threat because of its rather l
unusual epidemiologic characteristics.
Dr. Marx will keep the Committee informed as to the results of any sampling and 1
cultivation for amoebae which is done on the Vermont Yankee circulating ii' water and associated environs.
I Respectfully submitted, l
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Daniel J. Ma '.<, Ph. D.
j Secretary i-i 5/23/80 i
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STATE OF NEW HAMFSHIRE A INTER.DEPA2TMENT COMMUNICATION DATE April 29,1980 FROM Robert H. Estabrook l
AT (CFFicE)
Water Supply & Pollution Contro Commission Water Pollution Biolog'ist suaJECT REVIE'l 0F DOCUMEllT " ECOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE C0 fit 4ECTICUT RIVER, VERii0t!/YE.WO!iT",
REPORT IX, JAtiUARY 1979 - DECEf!BER 1979
't To Terrence P. Frost Chief Aquatic Biologist and e
Director of Permits and Enforcement ( s.i.
SITUATIO!1:
1.
The subject document is the ninth in a series of reports describing the environmental conditions of the Connecticut River impacted by j
thermal discharges from the Verment Yankee fluclear Power Plant.
I 2.
The year of 1979 was the first full. rear of operation under the amended discharge permit that allowed for open cycle cooling (with certain thermal limitations) during the period of October 15 to l
May 15.
DISCUSSI0ti:
1.
Three thermal criteria were imposed'on the open cycle mode of cooling, and all 3 were met in 1979.
The criteria and actual conditions were as follows:
a.) The river water temperature at station 3 (.65 miles south of Vernon Dam) could not exceed 65 F.; the maximum hou-ly j
mean temperature observed was 63" F.
b.) The rate of change in temperature between two successive hourly means at station 3 could not exceed 5 F.; the maximum observed rate of change was 2.7 F.
I c.) The increase in river temperature over ambient could not exceed 13.4F.; the maximum increase in temperature from station 7 (4.25 miles north nf Vernon Dam) to station 3 uas 10.2* F.
I 2.
A few abnormally high values were found for chloride, total phosphate, solids, and turbidity, but were attributed to constructicn vork on a fish ladder at Vernon Dam.
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STATE OF MEW HAMPSHIRE INTER. DEPARTMENT COMMUNICA'.tCN DATE April 29, 1980 AT (OFFicEl PAGE 2 FROM Robert H. Estabrook SUBJECT To Terrence P. Frost Phytoplankton, zooplankton, macroinvertebrate, and fish studies I do 3.
indicated little differences from previous year's results.
question the value of the plankton studies as a means of assessing Panel studies (i.e., slides the impact of the thermal discharge.
suspended in the water to allow for the growth of attached plants and animals) would be more valuable in assessing the growing con-ditions at a given point in the stream.
The plankton analyscs merely measure what is floating down the river from upstream con-di tions.
RECOMMEf10ATI0f!:
The results of this study indicate that the thermal discharges frca the Vermont Yankee flucler Power Plant. caused no measurable adverse effects on the water quality or aquatic biota of the Connecticut River in 1979.
I recommend that Vermont Yankee be allowed to continue to operate under the open cycle cooling mode from October 15 to May 15, with the assigned thermal limitations.
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