ML20049J074
| ML20049J074 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Point Beach  |
| Issue date: | 02/28/1982 |
| From: | Hickey C Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUREG-0816, NUREG-816, NUDOCS 8203120004 | |
| Download: ML20049J074 (63) | |
Text
_
l NUREG-0816 l
t Power Plant Siting and Design:
Intake and Discharge Effects at Point Beach Nuclear Plant on Lake Michigan Biota and Fisheries i
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory I
Commission Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation C. R. Hickey, Jr.
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Power Plant Siting and Design:
Intake and Discharge Effects at Point Beach Nuclear Plant on Lake Michigan Biota and Fisheries Manuscript Completed: July 1981 Date Published: February 1982 C. R. Hickey, Jr.
Division of Engineering Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555
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ABSTRACT The impact of the operation of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant on aquatic biota and fisheries of Lake Michigan is examined.
Significant adverse impacts have not been detected.
Localized effects are identified and appear to be related primarily to thermal discharges.
These effects are altered productivity, diversity, and density of some plankton and periphyton; seasonal attraction of fishes to the plume; stimulation of egg release and/or spawning of fishes in the plume; and the potential for intake entrapment of ichthyoplankton and fishes in the thermal plume because of interaction between the plume and the offshore intake crib.
The recreational fishery for trout and salmon is better as a result of (1) thermal plume attraction and (2) development of fishing facilities at the power plant.
Angler catches averaged more than 10,000 sal-monids per year.
This fact should enhance the Lake Michigan fishery stocking program and is considered a benefit derived from power plant operation.
The effects observed have been primarily on the exotic lake fishes (that is, alewife, smelt, and stocked salmonids) rather than on native lake species.
Design features of both the offshore intake and the shoreline discharge (and the potential interaction of the two) contributed to localized effects on lake biota and illustrate the usefulness of examining intake and discharge effects together rather than separately.
The review of the operational experience at Point Beach also showed that some station design features apparently con-tributed to greater effects than anticipated.
This knowledge should prove useful in the feedback process from operational experience to siting and design of future power plants on Lake Michigan, and from operational experience to impact assessment and prediction.
l iii
l CONTENTS Pag _e ABSTRACT..............................
iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
xi 1.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND......
1-1 2.
PRE 0PERATIONAL ASSESSMENTS OF.MPACTS..............
2-1 2.1 Thermal Discharges.....................
2-1 2.2 Entrainment and Impingement.
2-1 3.
SITE AND STATION DESCRIPTION..................
3-1 3.1 The Site.......
3-1 3.2 The Station........................
3-1 4.
EVALUATION OF OBSERVED IMPACTS.................
4-1 4.1 Sampling Programs.....
4-1 4.1.1 Phytoplankton...
4-1 4.1.2 Periphyton.......
4-1 4.1.3 Aquatic Macrophytes.................
4-2 4.1. 4 Zooplankton.....................
4-2 4.1. 5 Benthic Macroinvertebrates.
4-2 4.1.6 Ichthyoplankton...................
4-2 4.1.7 Ichthyoplankton Entrainment.
4-2 4.1. 8 Juvenile and Adult Fishes..............
4-3 4.1. 9 Fish Impingement...
4-4 4.1.10 Other Studies....................
4-4 4.2 Thermal Discharges 4-4 t
4.2.1 Plankton and Periphyton.
4-5 4.2.2 Benthic Invertebrates................
4-5 4.2.3 Fishes.......................
4-6 4.2.4 Recreational Fisheries...............
4-7 4.2.5 Summary and
Conclusions:
Thermal Effects......
4-13 4.3 Impingement of Juvenile and Adult Fishes..........
4-13 4.3.1 Annual Loss Estimates................
4-13 4.3.2 Losses of Salmonids.................
4-14 4.3.3 Patterns of Abundance and Species Composition....
4-19 4.3.4 Endangered Fishes..................
4-23 v
l.
Page 4.3.5 Impingement Sampling Methods............
4-23 4-26 4.3.6 Precision of Loss Estimates......
4-27 4.3.7 Summary and
Conclusions:
Impingement.
4-29 4.4 Entrainment of Fish Eggs and Larvae..
4.4.1 Species Composition, Density, and Seasonality....
4-29 4.4.2 Thermal Plume--Entrainment Interaction...
4-30 4.4.3 Total Entrainment Losses and Interplant Comparisons....................
4-31 4-33 4.4.4 Summary and
Conclusions:
Entrainment.
5.
CONCLUSIONS...........
5-1 6.
REFERENCES..........
6-1 LIST OF FIGURES 1.
Location of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant Site on Lake 3-2 Michigan, Wisconsin.....
2.
Biological Sampling Stations Near the Point Beach Nuclear Plant--November 1972 through October 1977..........
3-3 3.
Diagram of the Offshore Intake Crib at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant.
3-4 4.
Sampling Locations for Fishery Studies Near the Point Beach Nuclear Plant--November 1972 through October 1977......
4-3 5.
Location of Power Plants on Lake Michigan and Those Within Wisconsin Waters......................
4-12 6.
Seasonal Trends of Alewife Abundance in Impingement and Gill-Net Catches at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant--
November 1974-October 1975.................
4-21 i
l vi
J LIST OF TABLES P390 j
1.
Species Composition and Relative Abundance of the Fishes Caught by Recreational Fishermen From the Fishing Platform at Point Beach Nuclear Plant, August 2-October 15, 1972 and April 6-November 3, 1973..............
4-8
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2.
Effort and Catch of the Recreational Trolling (Boat)
Fishery at Point Beach Nuclear Plant Based on Angler Creel l
Surveys Conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78.....................
4-9 i
3.
Species Composition of Salmonids in the Recreational Trolling (Boat) Fishery at Point Beach Nuclear Plant Based on Angler Creel Surveys Conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78.
4-9 4.
Effort and Catch of the Shore-Based Recreational Fishery at Point Beach Nuclear Plant Based on Angler Creel Surveys Conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78......................
4-10
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5.
Species Composition of Salmonids in the Shore-Based i
Recreational Fishery at Point Beach Nuclear Plant Based on
]
Angler Creel Surveys Conducted by the Wisconsin Department of
' Natural Resources, 1974-78..................
4-10 1
6.
Total Catch and Effort of the Troll (Boat) and Shore-Based Recreational Fisheries for Wisconsin Waters of Lake Michigan Based on Angler Creel Surveys Conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78....
4-11 i
7.
Estimates of the Total Numbers of Fish Impinged at Point Beach Nuclear Plant and 95% Confidence Intervals (Compiled by Licensee), 1973-77...........
4-15 l
8.
Estimates of the Total Numbers of Fish Impinged at Point Beach Nuclear Plant (Prepared by Various Investigators),
1973-76............................
4-15 9.
Species or Group Composition and Estimates of the Total Numbers of Fish Impinged at Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Percent of Total, and 90% Confidence Intervals (Compiled by Licensee Under the Wisconsin Pollution Discharge i
Elimination System Program), March 1975-February 1976....
4-16 1
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P,agg 10.
Species and Total Number of Fish Collected From Traveling Screens at Point Beach Nuclear Plant, May 1973-October 1977..
4-17 11.
Species Collected by Trawling (1972-74 and 1976-77), Seining (1976-77), and Gill Netting (1972-77) at Point Beach 4-20 Nuclear Plant.........................
12.
Commercial Fishery Harvests (in Kilograms, Converted From Pounds) From the Wisconsin Waters of Lake Michigan for Species That Were Recorded During Impingement Sampling at Point Beach Nuclear Plant, 1973-76...........
4-22 13.
Estimated Total Weight (in Kilograms, Converted From Pounds) of Impinged Fishes at Point Beach Nuclear Plant That Were of Commercial Fishery Importance, 1973-77............
4-22 14.
Number of Alewife, Smelt, and all Species in Impingement Samples Caught in Sampling Baskets (9.5-mm-and 19-mm-Mesh Sizes) During 7-Month Period When Both Were Used Interchangeably at Point Beach Nuclear Plant; Number of Sampling Days; and Catches per-Unit-of-Sampling-Effort (CPUE), August 1975-February 1976...............
4-24 15.
Comparison of Impingement Estimates From Environmental Technical Specifications (ETS) and Wisconsin Pollution Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) Sampling Programs During Months When Programs Overlapped and When Data Sets Were Complete, 1975-76.......................
4-25 viii
i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Appreciation for review of and comment on this manuscript is extended to Ronald L. Ballard, Charles W. Billups, Thomas D. Cain, and Robert B. Samworth of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and to Richard F. Freeman III of Argonne National Laboratory. The Technical Information and Document Control Division i
of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission provided editorial, graphics, photography, and production services that led to the published version.
Appreciation is also extended to the following personnel of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources:
Paul T. Schultz for information on recrea-tional fishing and annual creel surveys in Wisconsin's waters of Lake Michigan, Robert Chiesa and Lee Liebenstein for information on lake fisheries and power plant effects, and Randle L. Jurewicz for information on threatened and endangered species.
ix
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.
Nonradiological aquatic ecological studies were conducted at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant during the 5 year period from September 1972 through October 1977, as required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Environmental Technical Specifications.
The Point Beach Nuclear Plant consists of two units using once-through cooling water withdrawn from and discharged into the upper basin of Lake Michigan, Wisconsin.
Unit 1 became operational in December 1970 and Unit 2 achieved 100%
capacity in early 1973.
The ecological studies thus encompassed more 4
than 4 years of two-unit operation.
The studies consisted of programs to monitor the impacts of power plant operation on the biota of Lake Michigan in the vicinity of the site, which included phytoplankton, zooplankton, periphyton, macrophytes, benthic macroinvertebrates, ichthyoplankton, and juvenile and adult fishes.
This report assesses the impacts resulting from thermal discharges, entrainment of fish eggs and larvae, and the impingement of juvenile and adult fishes.
Data utilized include the 5 years of ETS-required studies, data collected under the requirements of the Wisconsin Poll.ut. ion Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) program, studies conducted at Point. Beach by Argonne National Laboratory under the sponsorship of the Atomic Energy Commission, studies conducted by the State of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and other relevant published information.
2.
No significant adverse impacts on Lake Michigan biota from the operation of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant were detected.
Localized effects have been identified and appear to have bee'n related primarily to thermal discharges.
The effects were noted in the immediate near-field region of the thermal plume and included altered productivity, diversity, and den-sity values for some plankton and periphyton; seasonal attraction to the plume by fishes (especially alewife, smelt, trout, and salmon); and stimulation of egg release and/or spawning of some fishes (alewife and smelt) earlier in the season and at higher densities in the plume than in ambient-temperature areas.
These effects appear to be localized.
Whether the thermal plume has resulted in creation of spawning areas, in greater egg mortality, or in reduced spawning effort or success in other areas is unknown.
Although some of the observed effects appear to be greater than anticipated, the overall conclusions of minimal impact stated in the 1972 Final Environmental Statement remain valid.
3.
Recreational fishing opportunities for trout and salmon have been created by the thermal effluent and appear to be beneficial effects resulting from the operation of the power plant.
Fishing surveys conducted by the Wiscon-sin Department of Natural Resources between 1974 and 1978 have documented new troll (boat) and shore-based fisheries at Point Beach.
Construction of fishing facilities (fishing platform on the discharge structure and a boat-launching ramp) at the power plant has increased fishing opportunity, and thermal discharges have contributed to a, ear-shore availability of desirable fish species.
Xi a
Angler catches have averaged more than 10,000 salmonids per year at the power plant site.
Brown trout, rainbow trout, chinook salmon, and lake trout have made up the bulk of the catches.
Fishing success in the dis-charge area was noted to be better than in ambient-temperature areas.
Troll fishery catt:hes (by boat anglers) at Point Beach represented between 2.1% and 3.7% of the total troll fishery catches for the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan; catches by anglers fishiaq from the discharge structure represented between 5.7% and 10.6% of the ;.otal for the shore-based fishery. The annual harvest indices (catch per-effort) of the troll and shore fisheries at Point Beach have followed similar patterns, which, in turn, generally have followed the patterns or trends of the Wisconsin waters of the lake.
The salmonid fishery is maintained by annual stocking of fingerling and yearling fishes, and the harvest success has depended heavily on the stocking levels.
Power plant thermal discharges have become favorite fishing locations on Lake Michigan.
The discharges, therefore, contribute to the success of the lake-stocking program, since fishing opportunities and success increase the harvest-to-stocking ratio.
Of concern, however, is the enhancement of fishing without the creation of impacts or deleterious ehects from power plant interactions with the fishery resources (from effluents, entrainment, and impingement).
The Point Beach Nuclear Plant appears to have satisfied these criteria.
4.
Significant adverse impacts resulting from cooling-water withdrawal have not been detected.
The principal species of entrained ichthyoplankton were alewife, smelt, and sculpin.
The best estimates of annual entrain-ment losses were 4.6 million eggs and 2 million larvae.
The entrain-ment phenomenon priuiarily has been associated with fish eggs more so than with larvae, and might be related to stimulation of egg release and/or spawning in the thermal plume.
On several occasions during the 5 year study period, thermal plumes were observed to encompass the offshore intake area; thus, eggs released or larvae hatched in the plume might have been more susceptible to entrapment in the intake.
The design characteristic of the offshore intake crib to withdraw water throughout the water column results in little or no " refuge" area for ichthyoplankton.
Fish eggs released near the surface (alewife) and bottom (smelt and sculpin) and fish larvae drifting in the water column are all potentially subject to entrapment.
Impingement of fishes on the intake screens was documented and appears to have been greater than anticipated.
The principal species impinged were alewife (s90% of the total) and smelt (s2%).
Annual losses of all species were estimated to be about 2 million fishes at maximum, a small number relative to fishery harvests.
The mesh size (30 mm x 50 mm) of the bar grating covering the intake ports on the offshore crib appears to have been only marginally successful in restricting entry (thus entrapment) of alewife, but was expected to block entry of larger species.
- However, fishes as large as 79 cm long and weighing 6.2 kg were recorded in impinge-ment samples.
These large fishes must have entered the intake crib through voids within the crib's rock fill.
Thermal plumes encompassing the intake area might have rendered plume-attracted fishes more susceptible or available to entrapment.
The interaction of the offshore intake and the shoreline discharge illus-trates the_usefulness and necessity of examining the effects as a unit rather than separately.
xii 1
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5.
The observed effects of power plant operation primarily have been on the exotic and introduced fish species (that is, alewife, smelt, and salmonids) rather than on the native species.
These exotic fishes now constitute either the bulk of fishery harvests or significant portions of the forage food base for important predator species.
In comparison with other lake-shore areas of Lake Michigan, Point Beach appears to be relatively low in faunal abundance and productivity.
Therefore, impacts from plant opera-tion should be minimal on a lakewide basis.
6.
The licensee performed aquatic impact-monitoring studies as required by the NRC and the State of Wisconsin.
The studies overlapped in time, were different in depth and scope, and used different sampling techniques.
It seems reasonable that the requirements of NRC and the State of Wisconsin could have been satisfied by the same sampling program and data, and even the same analyses and reports.
The duplication of effort meant that the two agencies used different data, different qualities of data, and dif-ferent analyses in similar decisionmaking exercises.
7.
The broad scope of the inplant (entrainment and impingement) and lake studies conducted during the 5 year period, coupled with the thermal plume and recreational fishery studies conducted by Argonne National Laboratory and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, provided useful information for understanding the magnitude of power plant effects on lake biota and fisheries.
This broad examination of the operati'nal o
experience at Point Beach s. hows that some of the observed effects appear to have been greater than or different from those anticipated (although minor in overall impact) and that power plant design features have contributed to the differences.
This knowledge should be useful in providing feedback from operational experience to design and siting of future power plants located on Lake Michigan, and from operational experience to impact assessment and prediction.
8.
The alewife is considered both a nuisance species and an important eco-nomic resource in Lake Michigan.
This dichotomy complicates the assessment of the acceptability of impact of power plant entrainment and impingement.
Removal of alewives might be considered either unaccepth51e or desirable.
A solution to this could help resolve conflicts between the recognized large-scale losses of fishes at once-through cooling intakes on the Great Lakes and the high costs and disadvantages of instituting alternative cooling system designs.
i xiii
POWER PLANT SITING AND DESIGN:
INTAKE AND DISCHARGE EFFECTS AT POINT BEACH NUCLEAR PLANT ON LAKE MICHIGAN BIOTA AND FISHERIES 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Operating licenses for Point Beach Nuclear Plant were issued by the Atomic Energy Commission, now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), in October 1970 for Unit 1 and in November 1971 for Unit 2.
Unit 1 became operational in December 1970 and Unit 2 achieved 100% capacity in early 1973.
A Final Environ-mental Statement (FES) was prepared by the Atomic Energy Commission in May 1972 (Ref. 1); the FES assessed how operation of both units would affect Lake Michigan aquatic biota and fisheries.
The nonradiological Environmental Technical Specifications (ETS) for the Point Beach Nuclear Plant were issued by the Atomic Energy Commission on August 28, 1972, as Appendix B to Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-24 and DPR-27 for Units 1 and 2, respectively.
The ETS required extensive monitoring of the impacts of power plant operation on the biota of Lake Michigan for a period of 5 years, as specified by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Initial Decision LBP 72-32 of December 8, 1972 (5 AEC 163).
Monitoring was initiated in Septemter of 1972 and continued through October 1977 (Ref. 2).
This assessment examines the operational effects of thermal discharges and entrainment and impingement of fishes during the 5 year study period.
Data used in this assessment include the 5 year ETS-required studies conducted by the licensee (Wisconsin Electric Power Company), data collected by the licen-see under the requirements of the State of Wisconsin WPDES program, studies conducted at Point Beach by Argonne National Laboratory for the Atomic Energy Commission, studies conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and other relevant published information.
The ultimate benefit of the National Environmental Policy Act process accrues when operational experience at existing power plants is fed back into the siting and design process, as well as into the environmental impact assessment process.
In this way, past successes and failures are drawn on in a positive way and the lessons learned are applied to future decisionmaking actions and environmental planning.
Therefore, findings in this assessment are compared with impact projections made in the 1972 FES.
Significant adverse impacts have not been detected at Point Beach, but several localized effects were identified.
These are discussed in relation to pertinent design features of the power plant.
An enhancement of the Lake Michigan recreational salmonid fishery has resulted at Point Beach and is considered a benefit of power plant operation.
The improved fishery adds significantly to the local recreation picture and is worth reporting and documenting.
Additionally, this assessment has identified and evaluated methodologies and techniques used for sampling of aquatic biota at Point Beach.
These are discussed and compared.
Finally, the effects at Point Beach are discussed in relation to other lake power plants and to lake fisheries.
1-1
2 PREOPERATIONAL ASSESSMENTS OF IMPACTS The Final Environmental Statement (FES) for the Point Beach Nuclear Plant dis-cussed potential environmental impacts of station operation on Lake Michigan aquatic biota (Ref.1, Sec. V.C.2, pp. 39-42), based on data collected at the site during the first year and a half of Unit 1 operation.
The FES concluded in summary (p. i) that there was " minor impact on aquatic resources from pos-sible entrainment of plankton and small fish in the intake cooling water and from temperature increases in the thermal zone of influence by effluent dis-charges into Lake Mich;gan." The specific impact predictions in the FES are shown below.
2.1 Thermal Discharges (a) Experience has shown that existing thermal discharges in Lake Michigan act as attractants for most lake fish species.
At Point Beach, fish may find warm water discharges especially attractive during winter months when lake temperatures are lowest; and during the warm months of August and September, fish that stay in the discharge might experience a slight growth disadvantage.
(b) Fish diseases might be enhanced in the discharge among fishes that are attracted to the thermal effluent, but it was not suspected that this would become a significant problem.
A surveillance program.sas recommended.
(c) The occurrence of cold-shock death of fishes in the plume during winter was discussed as a potential effect, however no such kills were observed during Unit I shutdowns.
(d) The presence of benthic organisms in the Point Beach area is limited, thus exposure of the benthos to the thermal discharge was not expected to be a problem.
A possible exception was thought to be during the winter months when a sinking plume could occur that would come into contact with the benthos.
Even under those conditions the thermal effects were pre-dicted to be minor.
2.2 Entralament and Impingement (a) The numbers of non-fish plankters killed during condensor passage was small,
+hus the total effect (physical and thermal) of entrainment appears to be small.
(b) Few fish eggs or larvae were collected in intake and discharge sampling and extensive numbers of small fish were not drawn into the intake crib.
(c) Studies conducted indicated that lake fishes did not utilize the Point Beach area for spawning or nursery activities, thus no impacts were antici-pated to the spawning activities of native fishes.
2-1
(d) The site did not appear to be within the migration routes of introduced salmonid fishes, thus no effects were anticipated to species migrations.
2-2
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3 SITE AND STATION DESCRIPTION i
3.1 The Site The Point Beach Nuclear Plant is located on the west shore of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin approximately 48 km southeast of Green Bay and 145 km north of Milwaukee in Manitowoc County (Fig. 1).
The station is contained within a 836-ha area that includes 3.2 km of continuous lakefront.
One creek discharges about 458 m north of the site property and another near the center of the site.
No rivers or large streams are in the vicinity.
The lake bottom near the site slopes gently away from shore, with the 9-m and 18-m depth contours located approximately 1.6-2.4 km and 4.8-6.4 km offshore, respectively.
More complete descriptions of the site and surrounding vicinity are found in the Final Environmental Statement and several of the annual reports and other publications referred to in this report.
3.2 The Station Unit 1 (south unit) and Unit 2 (north unit) are rated at 497 MWe each.
Once-through cooling water is drawn from Lake Michigan for both units.through a common intake crib located 533 m offshore at a depth of 6.7-7.3 m (Figs. 2 and 3 and Ref. 3).
The structure consists of two concentric circular rings of 31-cm structural steel "H" pilings driven into the lake bed and filled with individually placed limestone blocks having two approximately parallel surfaces and weighing between about 2,700 kg and 11,000 kg.
The outside diameter of the structure is 33.5 m, the inside diameter is 18.3 m, and the top elevation is 2.4 m above standard lake level (Ref. 3).
Cooling water enters the structure through void spaces between the stone and through 38 concrete encased 76-cm-diameter steel pipes located around the periphery of the structure at a height of approximately 1.5 m above the lake bed.
The outer ends of the pipes are covered with a bar grating (* 30 mm x 51 mm) tc prevent fish and large debris from entering the structure.
Two 4.3-m-diameter pipes Duried beneath the lake bed connect the offshore intake with the onshore pumphouse which contains eight traveling screens of 9.5 mm mesh.
From March or April until November, both units of Point Beach usually operate on four circulating water pumps with a maximum design flow of approximately 3
3 47.4 m /sec (1,674 ft /sec).
During the rest of the year, two pumps are used for a design flow rate of about 27.2 m /sec (960 ft /sec).
Flow velocities a
3 have been calculated for the crib face immediately in front of the intake pipes and the voids between rocks at the intake crib are as follows (Ref. 3):
Flow Velocity, cm/sec Number of El 0.0 m Pumps (Normal)
El +0.8 m El -1.4 m 2
61 55 73 4
73 67 85 3-1
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KEV /AUNEE l
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4 GREEN BAY
-n-OUTAGAMIE 1
APPLETON $,
l 9' PolNT BEACH 1
WINNEBAGO IV/0 RIVERS MANITOWOC CALUMET i LAKE i
WINNEBAGO [
MANITOV/0C l
, SHEB0YGAN LAKE
.I MICHIGAN 0ZAUKEE WEST BEND D0DGE f
~
WASHINGTON 10 mi JEFFERSON i
MILWAUKEE WAUKESHA
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Figure 1.
Location of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant site on Lake Michigan, Wisconsin.
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Reference 2 Figure 2.
Biological sampling stations near the Point Beach Nuclear Plant--November 1972 through October 1977.
(To convert feet to meters, multip:y by 0.305.)
Measured velocities within 1.5 m of the crib face ranged from 1.8 to 21.3 cm/sec and averaged 11.0 cm/sec, with the higher velocities generally occurring in front of intake pipes.
If the voids between rocks were plugged, the approach velocities would nearly double at the intake pipes (Ref. 4).
Several design features of the intake crib reduce the potential ecological impact.
Bar gratings on the intake pipes and the stone construction of the crib provide a partial barrier to fish penetration and subsequent entrapment.
The bar gratings should prohibit the penetration of fish longer than about 200-300 mm (Ref. 3).
Larger fish must enter through the voids between rocks, 2
which in several instances have been as large as 929 cm (1 f tz) (Ref. 4).
These openings, however, would extend into the crib only as far as the next rock, and because the crib is 7.6 m thick, a large fish attempting to enter would be forced to take a very irregular path (Ref. 4).
Horizontal rather than vertical water flow into the crib (which extends above the lake surface) is designed to lessen entrapment because of the fishes' reduced susceptibility to entrainment in horizontal flows (Ref. 4).
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l Source:
Reference 1 Figure 3.
Diagram of the offshore intake crib at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant.
The stone fill is not a regular block structure as illustrated (see text for further description).
(To convert feet to meters, multiply by 0.305.)
Cooling water is returned to Lake Michigan by means of two shoreline discharge fiumes that extend into the lake in opposite directions at a 30 angle from l
the plant centerline (Fig. 2).
During normal operation, the design temperature rise (al) of the condenser cooling water is about 10.7 C (Ref. 1), and during i
recent years the difference between intake and discharge te.peratures generally has been 9-10 C (Refs. 5 and 6).
The highest discharge temperatures ( C) recorded during winter and summer have been:
Sample Year Winter Summer 1974-75 25.0 (AT = 22.2) 28.3 (AT = 10.0)
D 1975-76 32.2 (AT = 19.4) 30.0 (AT = 10.6) l
' Reference 5.
bReference 6.
3-4
The high AT's during the winter months occurred under icing conditions at the intake.
Under these conditions, the cooling system is designed to recirculate warm condenser discharge water to the offshore intake crib to prevent freezing in the system.
Flow through either of the 4.3-m-diameter intake pipes can be rever;ed and recirculated through the other intake pipe to the onshore pump-houste.
During these operations, the temperature differential across the condanser cooling system is increased.
Deicing operations generally occur between December and March or early April.
The average maximum discharge velocities were 46 cm/sec and 82 cm/sec during the 1974-75 and 1975-76 sampling years, respectively.
The momentum of the discharge is sufficient to create a high degree of mixing with the lake surface water in the immediate vicinity of the discharge (Ref. 1).
Water velocity in the plume appeared to decay exponentially downrange from the discharge, and plume currents decreased to natural lake current levels within approximately 760 m of the outfall (Refs. 5 and 6).
The furthest distances measured from the outfall to the 1-2*C AT isotherm in the lake were 4.5 km during 1974-75 and 4.3 km during 1975-76.
The minimum and maximum measured sizes of thermal plumes (to the AT 1 C isotherm) were 30 ha (75 acres) and 496 ha (1,255 acres), respectively (Ref. 6).
Subsequent to the time period of power plant operation considered in this assessment (1972-77), the licensee modified the offshore intake crib by installing four 2.4-m-diameter ports near the bottom, thus replacing many of the smaller ports.
Installation, accomplished by removing rock fill 'from the crib (by crane), was completed in October 1980 (personal communication, Lee i
Liebenstein, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources [WDNR], Madison).
The modification is designed to reduce ice formation on the crib (especially on the smaller ports), a condition that resulted in the shutdown of the power plant several times during previous winters.
The State of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources examined the potential for environmental impact and approved the design and operation of the modified crib (personal communications, Lee Liebenstein and Robert Chisea, WDNR, Madison).
l I
l 3-5
4 EVALUATION OF OBSERVED IMPACT 5 4.1 Sampling Programs Nonradiological studies performed according to the Environmental Technical Specifications (ETS) included monitoring of phytoplankton, zooplankton, peri-phyton, macrophytes, benthic macroinvertebrates, ichthyoplankton, juvanile and adult fishes, ichthyoplankton entrainment, and fish impingement.
Studies were conducted between September 1972 and October 1977; the methods and results were reported in a series of five annual reports (Refs. 5-9) and a 5 year summary report (Ref. 2).
Sampling generally was conducted monthly for water chemistry and aquatic biota during the first 4 years of the study.
During the fif th year, sampling generally was performed quarterly.
Four areas were tested during all 5 years:
a north reference (control) area approximately 3.8 km north of the intake-discharge centerline, a south reference area approximately 5.2 km south of the intake-discharge, and an effluent plume area along a line extending out from the centerline of the discharge structure of each unit (Fig. 2).
Three stations were sampled in each area:
one each at the 3.7-m (12-ft), 5.5-m (18-ft), and 7.3-m (24-ft) depth contours.
The details of the sampling methodology and parameters studied are contained in the annual and summary reports noted above, and in various sections of this assessment, where appropriate.
Brief summaries of the programs are presented below.
4.1.1 Phytoplankton Phytoplankton samples were collected in duplicate at the reference and plume stations on a monthly basis during the first 4 years and on a quarterly basis during the fif th year.
Samples were taken throughout the entire water column by using a centrifugal pump.
Phytoplankters were identified to species, and diversity indices and densities were calculated.
Carbon-14 primary produc-tivity studies were conducted in the intake and discharge waters on a monthly basis during the first 4 years.
" Floating-bag" experiments were conducted in 1972-73 in the discharge plume to determine time-temperature effects on primary productivity rates.
4.1.2 Periphyton Periphyton was sampled by placing artificial (styrofoam) substrates in the reference and plume areas.
Six substrates were placed in each area and sus-pended 0.5 m below the water surface at the 3.7-m contour.
Samples were collected on a quarterly basis after an approximate 2-month colonization period.
Species abundance, density, and diversity were examined.
Periphyton primary productivity studies were conducted during the first 4 years to examine the effects of the thermal plume.
Only during 1973 were natural lake substrates examined for the presence of periphyton.
[
4-1
4.1.3 Aquatic Macrophytes Natural lake substrates were examined during the summer of 1973 for the presence of aquatic macrophytes in both reference areas and in the plume.
None were found, although small tufts (6-13 mm long) of filamentous algae were observed on rock substrata.
During the summer of 1977, the entire shoreline from Two Rivers, Wisconsin (Fig. 1), to the north reference area was visually surveyed I
by boat for emergent aquatic macrophytes.
Again, none were found.
4.1. 4 Zooplankton Zooplankton samples were collected in duplicate at all reference and plume stations on a monthly basis during the first 4 years and on a quarterly basis during the fifth year.
Samples were collected throughout the entire water column by using a centrifugal pump that passed water through a No. 20 (80 pm) 1 mesh plankton net suspended in a container of lake water tu reduce plankton loss and damage.
Plankters were identified to species, and diversity indices and density values were calculated.
The net percent mortality of total zooplankton (exclusive of copepod nauplii) passing through the condenser was calculated monthly from February 1973 through October 1976, and three times during 1977.
Samples were collected from four stations:
at the offshore intake crib, in the onshore intake forebay in the discharge seal well, and at the end of the Unit 1 discharge plume in :he lake.
Samples were collected by centrifugal pump.
At the offshore intake, samples were taken by positioning the pump hose near one of the intake ports.
At the other three stations, integrated water column samples were collected similar to thoc-at the lake reference stations.
Samples were examined in a fresh condition for live / dead determinations.
4.1.5 Benthic Macroinvertebrates Benthos were sampled in quadruplicate by using a Ponar grab at each of the reference and plume stations on a monthly basis during the first 4 years and quarterly during the fifth year.
Samples were sieved through a U.S. Standard No. 30 sieve.
Species composition, density, diversity, and organism / sediment relationships were studied.
4.1.6 Ichthyoplankton Fish eggs and larvae were sampled monthly from November 1972 through October 1976 at plume and reference stations.
From April through October 1977, samples were collected twice monthly only at the 5-m and 9-m depth contours, thus bracketing the offshore intake (Fig. 4).
Replicate 5-min pump sampling for fish eggs was performed on the bottom by using a centrifugal pump, with water filtered through a 333 pm-mesh plankton net.
Planktonic fish were collected with a 0.5-m-diameter (333 pm-mesh) metered-flow plankton net.
At both sta-tions discrete multidepth samples were collected by net.
Eggs and larvae were identified to the lowest possible taxon, and density estimates were calculated.
4.1.7 Ichthyoplankton Entrainment Entrainment sampling of fish eggs and larvae was conducted in the onshore intake forebay.
Two submersible pumps placed in front of the travcling screens 4-2 s
o---o fiOT T OM GILL NETS
..... LGG AND L ARVAE TRANSFCT 5,F INE
- ----* SU RF AC E GIL L NETS
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' fi }
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.; g.
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- p 3,,, c y
l W
.s sh fr - t i, L" a
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+1 d 1 7;y
- W2**%
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l
. ~_.on n
o
- # 1, I
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..... s u. I l
d' u
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,,.g.
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'IPu l
l l
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I l
m,r p r l
l l
O _. _1.
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g, r..._ _
M'N Source:
Reference 9 Figure 4.
Sampling locations for fishery studies near the Point Beach Nuclear Plant--November 1972 through October 1977.
(To convert feet to meters, multiply by 0.305.)
at different depths filtered the intake water for about 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> through two plankton nets (333 pm-mesh).
Entrainment sampling was conducted concurrently with lake sampling, and the data were treated similarly.
I 4.1.8 Juvenile and Adult Fishes 1
l Fishes were sampled by using gill nets (1972-77), trawls (1972-74 and 1976-77),
and beach seines (1976-77).
Surface and bottom gill nets (meshes ranging from 13 mm to 89 mm) were used for 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> generally twice monthly (except during winter icing conditions) during the first 4 years, and monthly during the 5th year.
These nets were set perpendicular to the shore in 3-5.5 m of water l
(Fig. 4).
The location of the thermal plume was noted for each collection date so that the nets could be placed within the plume.
Bottom trawling i
4-3
was conducted in duplicate on a monthly basis in the plume and reference areas.
The size of the net was 4.6-m mouth opening, 1.9-cm body, and 1.3-cm cod end mesh.
Tows began in 1.8-3.0 m of water and were made perpendicular to shore out to the 7.3-m-depth contour (Fig. 4).
Beach seining (3.1-m-x-1.8-m net with 6-mm-mesh wings and 3-mm-mesh bag) was conducted in duplicate on a monthly basis at four locations--one in each reference area and two near the discharge j
structures (Fig. 4).
Fishes were identified to species, measured, and weighed.
i Scale samples were collected from selected species for age and growth analyses.
Ovaries were collected from selected species for fecundity analyses.
The incidence of diseases and parasites was recorded.
4.1.9 Fish Impingement Losses caused by fish impingement on the traveling screens were estimated during the period May 1973-October 1977.
The traveling screens were normally rotated once during each 8-hour workshift (three times daily) for a period of 30 min each time.
The 30-min cycling period cleaned the screens of debris and fish that had become impinged during the preceding 8 hours9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br />.
During the first 4 years of study (October 1972 through October 1976), a randomly determined screen-wash sample was taken each day, when plant operation permitted.
Impinged fishes were collected in a small-mesh basket placed in the wash sluiceway which filtered the washings from all eight traveling screens.
The mesh size of the sluiceway basket was 1.9 cm (3/4 in.), except during the period November 1975-February 1976 when a 1-cm (3/8-in.) basket was also used once every 4 days.
During the fifth study year (November 1976-October 1977), the sam-pling frequency was reduced to one 8-hour period per week and a 1-cm-mesh basket was used. All species collected were identified to the lowest taxon possible (normally to species), measured, and weighed.
By using the impinge-ment values of mean catch per hour, the number of samples collected during the study year, and calculated standard deviation values, annual impingement losses were estimated for each species along with 95% confidence intervals.
4.1.10 Other Studies In addition to the data collected under the ETS program and presented in the annual and summary reports, data on impingement and entrainment of fishes were collected by the licensee to fulfill the requirements of the Wisconsin Pol-lution Discharge Elimination System Permit during the period March 1, 1975-February 29, 1976 (Ref. 3).
The 316(b) demonstration is used in this assessment, and the sampling methods and results are discussed in the following sections.
Several studies of fishes in the thermal plume and recreational fishery harvests at Point Beach undertaken by Argonne National Laboratory also are discussed.
Recreational creel survey data collected at Point Beach by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are also used in this report.
4.2 Thermal Discharges Five years of study near the Point Beach Nuclear Plant have not revealed any long-term or significant adverse impacts from plant operation on the aquatic biota of Lake Michigan (Ref. 2).
However, differences in some parameters have occurred in the near-field thermal plume area compared with far-field control areas.
4-4
4.2.1 Plankton and Periphyton Phytoplankton productivity consistently was stimulated by condenser passage which resulted in significantly higher (P <0.05, analysis of variance) produc-tivity r'tes in the plume than at the intake.
Productivity rates in the plume returned to ambient rates within 2 hours2.314815e-5 days <br />5.555556e-4 hours <br />3.306878e-6 weeks <br />7.61e-7 months <br /> of discharge (Ref. 2).
Periphyton productivity was higher in the plume than in reference areas (Refs. 2 and 10);
diversity was lower in the plume (Ref. 2).
Significantly higher (P <0.05) densities of periphytic green and blue green algae and significantly lower densities of diatoms occurred on substrates in the plume than ir, reference areas (Ref. 2).
The above changes in the periphyton community of the near-shore plume area occurred on artificial substrates used in experimental monitoring.
Because of extensive wave action in the inshore area, few natural periphyton substrates were found in the Point Beach area.
Therefore, the noted differences in the plume area were probably not ecologically significant (Ref. 2).
The differences noted for phytoplankton and periphyton appear to have been in the plume area only, with ambient levels occurring outside the plume and in reference areas.
These effects, therefore, are judged to be small and localized.
Few differences were found between the zooplankton community of the plume and those of the reference areas.
The density of copepods was lower in the plume and the density of cladocerans was higher in the plume than in the reference areas, but the differences were not statistically significant (P >0.05)
(Ref. 2).
The only significant difference noted was a higher zooplankton diversity in the plume than in reference areas.
During the 5 year study, the mortality of entrained zooplankton caused by condenser passage averaged 10.8%,
but ranged from undetectable to 43.8% (Ref. 2).
The effects on zooplankton appear to have been localized in the plume area only.
This finding plus the relatively rapid reproductive capabilities of zooplankton organisms to compen-sate for entrainment mortality indicates that no significant adverse effects are occurring as a result of plant operation.
A study of the rates of recovery from entrainment for several common Great Lakes zooplankton species indicated that baseline or normal population densities should be observed downstream of the discharge within a few kilometers ($1-3) and within a few hours (*1-6) because of the mixing of effluent and anmient waters t,y lake currents (Ref. 11).
4.2.2 Benthic Invertebrates Differences in benthic communities between plume and reference areas were noted during the 5 year study and were attributable primarily to sediment and habitat differences rather than to plant operation (Ref. 2).
Some scour of bottom sediments was noted offshore 30-90 m from the discharge indicating that benthos in that area are affected by the velocity of the discharges.
Sinking plumes were observed at Point Beach on several occasions during the winter and spring months (Refs. 5, 6, and 10).
Even in the presence of these conditions, benthos appear to have been affected very little by thermal dis-charges at Point Beach.
Over the 5 years of study, the data indicate that more organisms and a higher diversity of benthos existed in the north plume j
area and in the south reference area than in other areas, primarily because of j
the existence of more suitable benthic habitat in these areas (Ref. 2).
These conditions not attributable to plant operation indicate insignificant effects on the benthos from the Point Beach Nuclear Plant.
4-5
4.2.3 Fishes Thermal discharges at Point Beach attract fishes during certain seascas.
During spring spawning runs, alewives have congregated in the plume and have been collected there in greater numbers than in reference areas (Refs. 1, 12, and 13).
Studies indicate that alewives respond to water current and velocity (Refs. 13-16) as well as to differing temperatures (Refs. 13, 17, and 18) and may have a rapid turnover in the Point Beach plume (Ref. 13).
Brown trout and rainbow trout appeared to actively seek the plume during winter months and were often collected there in higher numbers than in reference areas (Ref. 2).
These and other salmonid species observed in the discharge plume apparently did not remain for long periods (Refs. 13, 19, and 20), and tagging studies indicated that they left the plume and resumed their spawning migrations into streams and rivers (Ref. 13).
The 1972 FES stated that the migratory route of introduced salmonid fishes did not appear to pass through the Point Beach site vicinity.
Based on data available since the FES, the migratory routes of several species, however, seem to pass through the site vicinity as evidenced by tagging studies, seasonal plume attraction, and a substantial recreational fishery as discussed in Section 4.2.4.
Of the three species studied in the thermal plume (brown trout, rainbow trout, and chinook salmon), most individual fish spent less than 10% of their plume
" residence" time in the areas of the plume with maximum discharge temperatures.
Brown trout spent the most time at elevated temperatures rollowed by rainbow trout and chinook salmon.
The evidence suggests that these species avoid discharge temperatures exceeding 22 C (Refs. 21 and 22).
Studies of rainbow trout in the Point Beach discharge plume also have shown that the majority of trout caught by sports fishermen in the thermal discharge area were acclimated to plume temperatures (Ref. 20).
Small fish (< 1 kg in weight) selected plume temperatures of 14-19 C, while larger fish selected a range of 13-15 C.
Strong avoidance was apparent at discharge temperatures exceeding 21 C, with upper avoidance temperatures of 23-24 C for small fish.
A large proportion of trout caught during the summer were acclimated to ambient rather than discharge temperatures; therefore, the residence time in the' plume was limited or there was a continual exchange of plume-and ambient-temperature acclimated fish (Ref. 20).
Fish kills caused by cold shock resulting from reactor shutdown during the winter months have been few, with most observations yielding no evidence of mortality (Refs. 1 and 12).
On one occasion during January 1976, a sequential shutdown of both Units 1 and 2 resulted in the discovery of about a dozen dead and dying carp in the discharge area (Ref. 5).
An abnormal impingement event during that time also suggested that a small number of other species might have been shocked and then subsequently impinged.
The impinged species included brown trout, rainbow trout, lake trout, and gizzard shad (Ref. 6).
The rare occurrence of cold-shock mortality at Point Beach suggests the lack of any significant adverse effects caused by plant operation.
However, during the winter months cold-shocked fish could go unnoticed because of the ice cover, the tendency of some shocked fishes to sink or swim to the bottom, and the scarcity of observers at that time of year (Ref. 23).
l Fish diseases apparently did not increase as a result of thermal discharges at l
Point Beach.
Fungal infections in several fish species have been observed 4-6 i
during the 5 year study (Refs. 5-9), but the incidences have been low and not attributable to plant operations. Gas bubble disease was observed on only one occasion, January 1975, when several hundred young of-the year smelt were found dead or dying in the immediate discharge area, apparently from gas emboli (Ref. 5).
The infrequent occurrence of discharge-related disease conditions indicates the lack of any significant adverse effects resulting from plant operation.
Potential alterations of growth and condition of fish as a result of thermal discharges were studied (Refs. 2, 21, and 22).
A comparison of 5 year mean values for length and weight of brown trout indicated that fish in the control areas were significantly (P <0.05) longer and heavier than those in the plume, and condition factors were not significantly different between areas (Ref. 2).
Short-term growth studies at Point Beach have suggested that brown trout collected in the plume were growing at a faster rate than the average fish in the control area (Refs. 21 and 22).
The growth rates of plume rainbow trout and chinook salmon were not significantly different (P >0.05) from those of fish in the control group.
Accelerated metabolic demands of plume-exposed salmonid fishes were met by food availability and the ability of mobile fish to regulate their temperature exposures behaviorally.
The only other species for which differences were noted between plume and both control areas were (1) longnose suckers, which were significantly longer, but not heavier, in control areas than in the plume and (2) rainbow smelt, which were in signif-icantly better condition in the plume than in control areas (Ref. 2).
An apparent absence of consistent alterations in growth or condition of plume fishes suggests that any such effects are short term or not significant to the fish populations in areas away from plume influence.
Some species might be affected to a degree during a period of plume residence, but the fact that most fishes (especially salmonids) do not remain in the plume for extended periods (but rather are transient) suggests an overall lack of significant alterations of growth and condition which iould be detrimental to the populations.
4.2.4 Recreational Fisheries Thermal discharges from the Point Beach Nuclear Plant have resulted in an increase in the local recreational fishery harvest.
During 1972-73, for exampie, creel surveys documented the catch of 17 species of fishes (Refs. 12 and 14).
The most numerous species caught were salmonids (trout and salmon),
with lesser numbers of carp, sucker, yellow perch, and others (Table 1).
Overall, the mean catch per effort was 0.16 fish / angler-hour, and the mean time required to catch a fish was 6.2 hours2.314815e-5 days <br />5.555556e-4 hours <br />3.306878e-6 weeks <br />7.61e-7 months <br />.
Concentrations of some species at the discharge undoubtedly increased their chances of capture to such a degree that fishing success for rainbow trout and brown trout (which together accounted fur about 75% of the total catch) was significantly better than in ambient-temperature areas (Ref. 12).
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has conducted an annual creel census of the recreational salmonid fishery in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan since 1969 (Ref. 24).
Beginning in 1974, data were recorded for anglers who fish by boat (troll fishery) near the Point Beach Nuclear Plant and for anglers who fish in the effluent from a fishing platform atop the Unit 1 discharge structure (shore-based fishery).
Until 1974, trolling anglers launched their boats from a shoreline launching ramp at Two Creeks 4-7
1 Table 1.
Species composition and relative abundance of the fishes caught by recreational fishermen from the fishing platform at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant, August 2-October 15, 1972 and April 6-November 3, 1973 Number Weight Total Number Percent of Weight Percent of Species Caught the Total (kg) the Total Rainbow trout 1,463 53.4 2,020 53.0 Brown trout 589 21.5 657 17.2 Brook trout 161 5.9 83 2.2 Lake trout 64 2.3 252 6.6 Hybrid trout 3
0.1 2
<0.1 Chinook salmon 51
- 1. 9 127 3.3 Coho salmon 71 2.6 40 1.0 Carp 146
- 5. 3_
564 14.8 Sucker 79 2.9 Yellow perch 83 3.0 Bullhead 16 0.6 Smallmouth bass 7
0.3 65 1;7 Bluegill 1-White bass 1
Freshwater drum 1
0.2 Lake whitefish 1
Chub 2_
Total 2,739 100 3,810 100 Source:
Reference 12.
located about 3.2 km north of the power plant.
Subsequently, a launching ramp was constructed on the property of the power plant just south of the plant itself, and most boat anglers fishing near the plant now use this ramp (per-sonal communication, Paul T. Schultz, WDNR).
The fishing platform was built in 1972 (Ref. 12).
Catch, effort, and species composition of the salmonid fishery at Point Beach during 1974-78 from the WDNR creel census studies are presented in Tables 2-5.
Troll fisnery catches during the period represented between 2.1% and 3.7% of the cotal troll (boat) fishery catches for the Wisconsin waters of Lane Mi.;higan, and catches by anglers fishing on the discharge structure represtated between 5.7% and 10.6% of the total for the shore-based fishery.
On the whole, 54,609 salmonids were estimated to have been caught at Point Beach during the 5 year period (Table 5), an average of more than 10,000 per year.
The angler-interview surveys are conducted each year between March 15 and November 15 (Ref. 24).
Since fishing continues during the nonsurvey periods (November 15-March 15) with " fair" numbers caught (personal communication, Paul T. Schultz), the annual totals would have been greater than those estimated by the surveys.
I 4-8
Table 2.
Effort and catch of the recreational trolling (boat) fishery at Point Beach Nuclear Plant based on angler creel surveys conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78 Number of Hours Number Hours per Trips per Hours per Year Trips Fished Caught Trip Fish Fish 1974 4,755 16,311 5,245 3.43 0.91 3.11
(% of total)
(1.2)
(1.2)
(2.6) 1975 8,054 25,452 6,444 3.16 1.24 3.95
(% of total)
(2.1)
(1.4)
(3.3) 1976 7,654 26,867 2,438 3.51 3.14 11.04
(% of total)
(2.9)
(1.8)
(3.1) 1977 6,421 24,273 6,935 3.78 0.93 3.50
(% of total)
(1.6)
(1.1)
(2.1) 1978 11,337 44,441 7,250 3.92 1.56 6.13
(% of total)
(3.7)
(2.8)
(3.7)
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Note:
The sampling periods were April-October for 1974 and March-November for all other years.
Numbers in parentheses indicate the percent of the total (Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan).
Table 3.
Species compo;ition of salmonids in the recreational trolling (boat) fishety at Point Beach Nuclear Plant based on angler creel surveys conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78 Brook Brown Rainbow Coho Chinook Lake Trout Trout Trout Salmon Salmon Trout Total 1974 477 2,479 1,335 572 381 5,244
(% of total)
(77.4)
(23.6)
(5.4)
(0.8)
(0)
(0.5)
(2.6) 1975 161 4,530 1,205 161 58 329 6.444
(% of total)
(12.6)
(17.7)
(6.2)
(0.3)
(0.3)
(0.4)
(3.3) 1976 29 1,448 703 43 129 86 2,438
(% of total)
(18.1)
(21.7)
(10.2)
(0.2)
(1.0)
(0.4)
(3.1) 1977 3,711 542 379 352 1,950 6,934
(% of total)
(0)
(16.8)
(2.0)
(0.3)
(0.5)
(3.3)
(2.1) 1978 1,160 1,160 363 4,495 72 7,250
(% of total)
(0)
(2.4)
(7.0)
(0.8)
(7.5)
(0.3)
(3.7) i Total 667 13,328 4,945 1,518 5,034 2,818 28,310 Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Note: The sampling periods were April-October for 1974 and March-November for all other years. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percent of the total (Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan).
i 4-9
t l
l Table 4.
Effort and catch of the shore-based recreational fishery at Point Beach Nuclear Plant based on angler creel surveys conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78 Number of Hours Number Hours per Trips per Hours per Year Trips Fished Caught Trip Fish Fish 1974 11,883 38,500 6,987 3.28 1.70 5.51
(% of total)
(10. 4 )
(12.2)
(10.6) 1975 17,351 43,204 6,586 2.49 2.63 6.56 t
(% of total)
(9.4)
(8.3)
(10.3) 1976 7,924 35,977 2,570 4.54 3.08 14.00
(% of total)
(5.1)
(8.9)
(5.7) 1977 7,943 22,082 6,476 2.78 1.23 3.41
(% of total)
(3.6)
(4.3)
(6.5) 1978 5,349 17,118 3,681 3.20 1.45 4.65
(% of total)
(5.1)
(6.0)
(8.8) l Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
l Note: The sampilng periods were March-October for 1974 and March-November for all other i
years Numbers in parentheses indicate the percent of the total (Wisconsin waters i
of Lake Michigan).
l l
Table 5.
Species composition of salmonids in the shore-based recreational fishery at Point Beach Nuclear Plant based on angler creel surveys conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78 Total (Shore Brook Brown Rainbow Coho Chinook take Total Plus Year Trout Trout Trout Salmon Salmon Trout (Shore)
Boat) 1974 489 2,935 2,515 70 140 848 6,987 12,231
(% of total)
(64.5)
(15.4)
(8.4)
(3.5)
(2.6)
(9.7)
(10.6) 1975 105 4,373 1,172 423 138 375 6,586 13,030
(% of total)
(6.4)
(16.0)
(5.9)
(4.6)
(2.9)
(25.4)
(10.3) 1976 39 2.093 397 10 10 19 2,568 5,006
(% of total)
(6.9)
(12.3)
(3.5)
(0.3)
(0.1)
(8.0)
(5.7) 1977 261 4.815 1,008 187 75 131 6,477 13,411
(% of total)
(4.7)
(11.5)
(2.7)
(3.6)
(0.8)
(32.9)
(6.5) 1978 589 1,693 1.362 37 3,681 10,931
(% of total)
(42.5)
(12.2)
(9.9)
(0)
(0.6)
(0)
(8.8)
Subtotal 1,483 15,909 6,454 690 400 1,363 26,299 Total (shore plus boat) 2,150 29,237 11.399 2,208 5,434 4,181 54,609 Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Note:.The sampilng periods were March-October for 1974 and March-November for all other years. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percent of the total (Wisconsin waters-of Lake Michigan). Statistics for the total fishery (shore plus boat from Table 3) at Point Beach are included.
4-10
Table 6.
Total catch and effort of the troll (boat) and shore-based recreational fisheries for Wisconsin waters of Laka Michigan based on angler creel surveys conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1974-78 Troll Shore-Based Number Hours Hours Number Hours Hours Year Caught Fished per Fish Caught Fished per Fish 1974 203,870 1,748,433 8.58 65,725 316,311 4.81 1975 194,747 1,811,460 9.30 64,099 522,014 8.14 1976 78,345 1,462,846 18.67 45,403 405,364 8.93 1977 325,576 2,126,728 6.53 99,684 512,855 5.14 1978 196,585 1,571,552 7.99 41,863 285,585 6.85 Source:
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The recreational salmonid fishery of Lake Michigan is maintained by annual stocking of fingerling and yearling fishes (Refs. 25 and 26).
Annual harvests in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan depend on stocking levels, and in recent years the levels of harvests generally have fluctuated according to the amount of fishes stocked (Ref. 24).
Correlation analysis (Ref. 27) was used to test the association between the annual indices of catch per effort (as determined by the WDNR) at Point Beach (Tables 3 and 5) and the lake (Wisconsin waters) as a whole (Table 6).
The annual indices for the troll fishery were strongly and significantly correlated (r = 0.914, P <0.05).
The indices for the shore-oased fishery showed a good correlation (r = 0.766), but one that was not significantly different from zero (P >0.05).
The association between the annual indices of catch per-effort for the troll (Table 3) and shore-based (Table 5) fisheries at Point Beach were also tested by correlation analysis.
The resulting significant correlation (r = 0.889, P <0.05) suggests that the harvest success of the two fisheries at Point Beach has followed similar annual patterns.
The Point Beach patterns, in turn, generally have followed the patterns of the Wisconsin waters of the lake which depend greatly on stocking levels.
Recreational harvest statistics for the shore-based fishery also have been recorded by the WDNR for four other power plants on the west shore of Lake Michigan:
Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant, Edgewater Power Plant, Port Washington Power Plant, and Lakeside Power Plant (Fig. 5 and Ref. 24).
During the years when catches at all five plants were recorded, the combined catches equalled 41.8% (1975), 35.9% (1977), and 27.9% (1978) of the total catches in the Wisconsin waters of the lake.
The association between the annual catch indices (catches per effort) at Point Beach and Kewaunee Nuclear Plants was tested by correlation analysis.
Although the associations were not signif-icantly different from zero (P >0.05), the strong correlation coefficients for the shore-based (r = 0.813 for 1.974-78) and troll (r = 0.996 for 1975, 1976, and 1978) salmonid fisherie. suggest that annual fluctuations in fishing success at the two plants have followed similar trends.
1 1
4-11
I
%.be
.a a-
)
4e Q
i 81G ROL A GNt iN HAY
/
PUL L e A M - _ _
It&WAUhti N l
POINT CL ACH WISCONSIN MICHIGAN i DGE W All N
~
PORI W A SM dGIO'd ' '
LAKE MICHIGAN J H CAMPBE LL OA (atta A
t eon
[
'N wAustGAm
- ^$'"
- ILLINOIS i
I
_ _.._-- - Do A t o c c oo.
I
,.i oiANSI
~ Mic Hic. Aw cir y SI Af t LING
~ _./
-~
N it Agt g y De AN H M11( H4 L L Source:
Adapted from Reference 30 Figure 5.
Location of power plants on Lake Michigan and those within Wisconsin waters 4-12
i Thermal discharges have become favorite fishing locations throughout the Great l
Lakes (Ref. 12).
Point Beach is no exception because it provides excellent salmanid fishing, with thousands of local and tourist fishermen using the facility (Ref. 12).
Therefore, this could be construed as a beneficial effect of the waste-heat discharge (Refs. I and 12).
The combined catches at several power plants surveyed by the WDNR indicate that fishing is successful at those locations and that the catches constitute a significant portion of the total salmonid catches for the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan.
The reasons for this likely are twofold:
(1) attraction of prey and predators (salmonids) to the thermal discharge (consequently, desirable species are available near shore) and (2) increased fishing opportunities resulting from the construction of fishing facilities near the resource (for example, platforms at the dis-charges and boat-launching ramps).
Fishing at 16ke power plants, therefore, contributes to the success of the lake-stocking program because fishing suc-cess at the plants increases the harvest-to-stocking ratio.
Of concern, however, is the enhancement of the fishery without the creation of impacts or deleteriour ifects from power plant interactions with the fishery resources (that is,. ~ effluents, impingement, and entrainment).
The Point Beach plant appears to have satisfied these criteria, even though it might not have been specifically designed to enhance the fishery.
During 1974-78, the average number of fishing trips by anglers at Point Beach was 17,734 per year for the boat and shore-based fisheries combined (from Tables 2 and 4).
The average expense for anglers fishing in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan during the early 1970's was estimated to have been
$7.16 per trip (Ref. 28).
Using these figures, the average annual expense by anglers fishing at Point Beach was approximately $126,975 or about $11.63 per fish caught.
In the absence of any significant adverse effects on fishes (as discussed in the previous sections and in the sections that follow), the enhancement of the recreational fishery at Point Beach is a beneficial effect of station operation.
4.2.5 Summary and
Conclusions:
Thermal Effects Significant adverse effects on the biota of Lake Michigan from the thermal discharge at Point Beach have not been detected.
Localized effects such as altered productivity, diversity, and density values for plankton and periphyton in the immediate near-field region of the plume have been observed.
Seasonal attraction to and avoidance of the thermal plume by fishes have been observed.
These effects have been minor and isolated in the plume area only.
New and improved recreational fishing opportunities for trout and salmon have been created that are beneficial effects from operation of the power plant.
The absence of any significant adverse impacts from thermal discharges at Point Beach confirms the overall findings of the Final Environmental Statement.
Other aspects of thermal discharges are discussed in the following sections on impingement and entrainment.
4.3 Impingement of Juvenile and Adult Fishes 4.3.1 Annual loss Estimates Estimates of losses resulting from impingement at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant during the period May 1973-October 1977 have been prepared by the licensee and 4-13 j
l
have ranged from 204,582 to 2,028,798 fishes per sample year (Table 7).
Esti-mates of impingement losses at Point Beach have also been made by other investi-gators (Refs. 29 and 30) using data collected by the licensee (Table 8).
Although the periods (sample years) considered by the several investigators dif hired somewhat, the loss estimates fell within the range of values reported by the licensee for the 5 year study period.
From March 1, 1975 to February 29, 1976, the licensee conducted a 316(b) study for the State of Wisconsin and reported an estimated impingement loss of 1,056,724 fishes (Tables 8 and 9 and Ref. 3).
The presence of 35 distinct fish species on the screens was documented by means of impingement sampling between 1973 and 1977 (Table 10 and Ref. 2).
The most abundant species every year were alewife and rainbow smelt, which constituted 97.4% and 2.2%, respectively, of the total 5 year estimates of impingement losses.
Smelt accounted for 1.0-2.7% of the annual loss estimates during the November 1973-October 1977 period.
During May-October 1973, smelt constituted 10% of the total, a figure attributed to potential sampling error (undefined) during 1973 (Ref. 2).
By comparison, smelt accounted for 15.3% of impinged fishes at Point Coach during the 1 year 316(b) study (Table 9 and Ref. 3) and 8.7% during an 18-month multiplant lakewide impingement study (Ref. 30).
Each of the other species constituted less than 0.2% of the 5 year total impingement loss estimates (Table 10).
During the 18-month lakewide impingement study, 1,808,463 fishes weighing 52,758 kg.were reported to have been impinged at Point Beach (Ref. 30).
These figures represented 6.1% by number and 5.4% by weight of the total estimated fishes impinged at 17 power plants surveyed in the four States that border Lake Michigan (Fig. 5).
4.3.2 Losses of Salmonids During the 316(b) impingement study, length and weight data for impinged fishes were recorded.
The maximum lengths and weights for several species were as follows:
Length Weight Species (cm)
(kg)
Lake trout 78.7 6.2 Rainbow trout 58.4
- 2. 9 Tiger trout 43.2 0.9 Brook trout 46.5 1.6 Brown trout 63.5 4.7 Cisco 43.2 0.8 Yellow perch 31.0 0.4 White sucker 48.5 0.9 Coho salmon 39.6
- 0. 5 Longnose sucker 47.5 0.9 Lake whitefish 51.6
1.4 Source
Reference 3.
l 4-14
\\
l Table 7.
Estimate of the total number of fish impinged at Point Beach Nuclear Plant and 95% confidence intervals (compiled by licensee), 1973-77 Sample Estimated 95% Confidence Interval l
Period Number Impinged
(,+ % of Number Impinged) a May 1973-Oct. 1973 300,216 147,844 to 453,004 l
(1 50.9) b Ncv. 1973-Oct. 1974 204,582 96.413 to 312,753 (1 52.9) c l
Nov. 1974-Oct. 1975 684,544 439,800 to 929,295 l
(1 35.8%)
d Nov. 1975-Oct. 1976 2,028,798 851,997 to 3,205,599 l
(1 58.0%)
Nov. 1976-Oct. 1977" 1,094,463 0 to 2,378,275 l
(+ >100%)
l aReference 7.
Reference 8.
cReference 5.
dReference 6.
" Reference 9.
Table 8.
Estimates of the total numbers of fish impinged at Point Beach Nuclear Plant (prepared by various investigators),
1973-76 i
Total Estimated Sample Period Numbers Impinged a
1973 301,106 a
1974 188,194 a
1975 725,275 b
Jan. 1975-June 1976 1,808,463 c
l Mar. 1975-Feb. 1976 1,056,724 i
90% confidence interval 503,602 to 1,609,846 (1%)
(152.3) l l
aReference 29.
bReference 30.
cReference 3.
4-15
Table 9.
Species or group composition and estimates of the total numbers of fish impinged at Point Beach Nuclear Plant, percent of total, and 90% confidence intervals (compiled by licensee under the Wisconsin Pollution Discharge Elimination System program), March 1975-February 1976 Estimated Number 90% Confidence Species or Group Impinged (% of Total)
Interval Alewife 886,394 (83.4) 648,884 to 1,123,904 Smelt 161,389 (15.3)
O to 375,369 a
Trout 452 (0.04) 0 to 1,344 b
Salmon 16 (<0.01) 0 to 125 c
Game and food fish 979 (0.09) 0 to 3,597 d
Rough fishes 209 (0.02)
O to 938 Forage fishes" 7,285 (0.7) 0 to 32,341 Total 1,056,724 (100) 503,602 to 1,609,846 Rainbow, brown, tiger, brook, and lake trout and Atlantic salmon.
bChinook and coho salmon.
cChannel catfish, black bullhead, lake whitefish, round whitefish, bluegill, largemouth bass, northern pike, bloater, yellow perch.
dCarp, white sucker, longnose sucker.
" Trout perch, ninespine and brook stickleback, deepwater and slimy sculpin, gizzard shad, and several species of shiner, minnow, and dace.
Source:
Reference 3.
Large individual fish of the species shown in the preceding table, especially the trout, were not uncommon in impingement samples.
The estimated annual number and weights of trout and salmon impinged during the 316(b) study were 452 trout weighing 776.2 kg and 16 salmon weighing 2.3 kg.
Approximately 75% of the impinged salmonids were longer than the 25.4-cm (10-in.) minimum legal harvest size for the recreational fishery.
Based on these figures, the mean weights would have been approximately 1.7 kg/ trout and 0.1 kg/ salmon.
The estimated number and weights (and mean weights) of trout and salmon cat.ght by recreational fishermen at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant during 1972-73 were 2,280 trout weighing 3,014 kg (R = 1.3 kg), 51 chinook salmon weighing 127 kg (R = 2.5 kg),
71 coho salmon weighing 40 kg (R = 0.5 kg) (Ref. 12).
These figures for impinged fish and those caught at the fishery are for different years, but a rough comparability in size (1.7 kg compared with 1.3 kg) for the trout is suggested.
Fishes as large as these must be entering the offshore intake crib through the volds among the crib rocks, because the 76-cm-diameter pipes near the bottom of the crib are covered by bar grating to prevent the entry of large fishes.
4-16
fable 10.
Specie, and total number of fish collected f rom traveling screens at Point Beach Nuclear Plant, May 1973-October 1977 May 1973-Nov. 1973-Nov. 1974-Nov. 1975-Nav. 1976-Percent Species Oct. 1973 Oct. 1974 Oct. 1975 Oct. 1976 Oct. 1977 Total of Total Alewife 89,535 61,702 221,209 667,431 50,613 1,090,490 97.42 Giriard shad 1
239 354 226 820
<0.1 Burbot 5
5
<0.1 Lake whitefish 5
5 20 30
<0.1 Round whitefish
- 1 1
2
<0.1 Bloater 1
<0.1 Coregonus s 5
21 26
<0.1 CIE o spp. pp.
1 7
1 9
<0.1 Chinook salmon 1
1 2
<0.1 Coho salmon 4
4 3
5 1
17
<0.1 Brook trout 2
5 1
1 9
<0.1 Hrown trout.
7 14 31 50 102
< 0.1 Rainbow trout 4
12 20 24 60
<0.1 Tiger trout 1
1
<0.1 Lake trout 2
12 32 33 10 89
<0.1 Rainbow smelt 10,133 181 6,258 6,669 8'38 24,739 2.21 Carp 15 5
8 11 8
47 (0.1 Lake chub 2'
10 8
1 20
<0.1 Spottall shiner 3
13 3
19
<0.1 Imerald shiner
- 3 5
8
<0.1 Fathead minnowa 3
3
<0.1 tonynose dace 10 5
7 22
<0.1 White sucker 31 32 26 21 4
114
<0.1 Lt1gnose sucker 14 1
2 2
19
<0.1 5tirthead rtdhorse 1
1
- 0.1 Northern pike 2
1 3
<0.1 Black bullhead 3
8 16 1
28
<0.1 Yet':w Nilhead' 2
2
< 0.1 Jhannel catfish" 2
2
< 0.1 Nine-spine stickleback 101 39 16 156
( 0.1 Stickleback 3
3
< 0.1 f rout perch 7
7 7
21
< 0.1 Bluegill 31 47 1
79
<0.1 5mallmouth bass
- 1 1
<01 Largemouth bas 5*
1 1
< 0.1 Yellow perch 302 48 41 19 1
413
<0.1 Slimy sculpin 370 1,459 145 1,974
< 0. 2 Sculpin 15 9
24
<0.1 Total 100,073 62,635 228,429 676,249 51,976 1,119,362 Species impinged that were not collected during netting studies.
Source: Reference 2.
4-17
//
?'i i
The relatively small number of trout that became impinged (ccmpared'with those caught in recreational harvests, as discussed below) suggests that the intake is not an effective " collector" of trout.
It does suggest, however, that small fishes (of any species) could become entrapped in the intake crib (and subsequently impinged on the traveling screens) by coming through the voids among the rocks.
Presumably, then, the intake crib could be withdrawing water throughout most or all of the water column although most of the water (more than one-half of the total volume) enters through the 76-cm-diameter pipes.
All species of trout and salmon combined have constituted approximately 0.025%
of the 5 year impingement total, with brown trout the most frequently impinged followed by lake trout, rainbow trout, and others (Table 10).
The 5 year total estimated impingement losses of salmonids were 1,068 fish compared with 2,014 captured by gill net.
Salmonids Caught by Sample Year Impinged Gill Net May 1973-Oct. 1973 51 316 Nov. 1973-Oct. 1974 147 48/
Nov. 1974-Oct. 1975 275 501
/
l Nov. 1975-Oct. 1976 342 517 Nov. 1976-Oct. 1977 253 193 Total 1,068 2,014 During the last four sampling years, impingement losses averaged 254 salmonids per year.
During the 1 year 316(b) study, an estimated 468 salmonids were impinged (Table 9).
They constituted relatively small portions of the recrea-tional fishery harvests of 10,000 salmonids per year at the Point Beach plant (Tables 2-5) and the harvest of about 120,000-420,000 salmonids per year in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan (Table 6).
It is also apparent that the far-field netting program used for monitoring the lake populations acc'ounted for more salmonids than were estimated to have been impinged at the power plant.
In the 316(b) demonstration (Ref. 3), it was noted that the State recreational harvest of salmonid fishes was approximately 12% of the number stocked by the State of Wisconsin.
Based on that application factor of 12%,
of the 468 salmonids impinged during the study year, it was estimated that 56 would have been lost to the fishery.
If the, impinged salmonids at Point Beach were all of a prerecruit size (comparable with those stocked), then the 12%
figure of 56 fishes would be appropriate.
However, about 75% of the impinged.
salmonids were of legal recreational fishery size (> 25.4 cm long); thus, the.
number potentially lost to the fishery by impingement would have been greater than 56.
A nore appropriate application factor might have included a 12%
factor for those fish less than legal size plus a factor for the legal-size fish equivalent to the proportion of legal-size fish in the stock that are harvested by anglers. Whichever factor is used, however, impingement of salmonids at Point Beach represents an insignificant effect on the lake sal-monid stocks and on the recreational fishery.
f.
4-18 0
r; 4/,).
4.3.3 Patterns of Abundance and Species Composition Far-field sampling conducted between 1972 and 1977 captured a total of 36 distinct fish species (Table 11 ana Ref. 2).
Twenty-nine species were common to both impingement (Table 10) and far-field netting (Table 11).
Those species not common to both (taken exclusively by impingement or by nets) were captured in relatively low numbers.
Generally, those fishes most abundant in impingement samples also were those most abundant in lake netting studies.
Of the 38 fish species listed as common (past and present) in Lake Michigan (Ref. 31), 30 were taken during far-field and impingement studies at Point Beach.
The species i
rot captured were those that were abundant in other parts of the lake (for example, Green Bay), and those species that were abundant historically but have declined in abundance in recent years because of one or more factors, including exploitation, altered water quality, and introduction of exotic species (Ref. 31).
Gill netting was the far-field sampling technique used with the most consist-ency throughout the study period, and especially during the first 4 years before the reduction in effort for most sampling programs.
Although 1-2 gill-net samplings per month could not generate data quantitatively comparable with the data produced by up to 31 samplings per month (once per-day) by impingement monitoring, relative trends of seasonal abundance usually were similar for the most abundant fishes taken by each method (Fig. 6).
Catches-per-unit-of-sampling-effort (CPUE) by gill net for yellow perch over the 5 year period showed a marked downward trend (Ref. 2).
Impingement of yellow perch was quite low overall during the period (0.04% of the total for all species), but annual impingement catches and the annual catches per-unit-of-impingement-sampling-effort (fish impinged per hour) also decreased in a pat-
~
tern very similar to that for gill netting.
Reasons for the decline are not clear, but it could have been related (in part) to the abundance of alewives.
Although the gill-net CPUE for alewives showed no consistent or marked annual changes, the impingement catches and CPUE during the middle three sampling years increased dramatically by an order of magnitude to a peak in 1976, when more than than 2 million fish were impinged.
Decline of the yellow perch population in Lake Michigan during the 1960's was attributed principally to the physical displacement of perch in the inshore spawning and nursery areas by a dramatically increasing population of alewives (Refs. 32 and 33).
A decrease in abundance of yellow perch at Point Beach, therefore, might have been related, in part, to local increases in abundance of alewives (as sug-gested by impingement catches).
Studies conducted near the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant during 1973-76 also documented a steady decline in abundance of yellow perch and an increase of alewives (Ref. 34).
The decline in number of perch was attributed to poor recruitment of young fish and weak year classes (Ref. 34).
Similar patterns of rainbow smelt abundance occurred at Kewaunee and Point Beach, with peak catches during 1974 and 1976 and small catches during 1973 and 1975.
\\
Recent commercial fishery harvests from the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan for species that were impinged at Point Beach are shown in Table 12.
By comparison, the estimated weights of impinged fishes were small (Table 13).
It is interesting to note that the annual harvest patterns for smelt and j
yellow perch were similar to those obtained by netting at both Point Beach and l
Kewaunee.
4-19
Table 11.
Species collected by trawling (1972-74 and 1976-77), seining (1976-77), and gi'l netting (1972-77) at Point Beach Nuclear Plant Common Name Scientific Name Sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus Gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum Coregonus spp.
Coregonus spp.
Cisco (lake herring)
Coregonus artedii Lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis Bloater Coregonus hoyi Deepwater cisco*
Coregonus johannae Blackfin cisco*
Coregonus nigripinnis Shortjaw cisco*
Coregonus zenithicus Coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha Rainbow trout Salmo gairdneri Atlantic salmon
- Salmo salar Brown trout Salmo trutta Brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis Lake trout Salvelinus namaycush Tiger trout Salmo-Salvelinus hybrid Rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax Northern pike Esox lucius Carp Cyprinus carpio Lake chub Covesius plumbeus Spottail shiner Notropis hudsonius Longnose dace Rhinichthys cataractae l
Blacknose dace
- Rhinichthys atratulus Pearl dace
- Semotilus margarita Longnose sucker Catostomus catostomus White sucker Catostomus commersoni Shorthead redhorse Moxostoma macrolepidotum Black bullhead Ictalurus melas Tadpole madtom*
Noturus gyrinus Burbot Lota lota i
Ninespine stickleback Pungitius pungitius Trout perch Percopsis omiscomaycus Bluegill Lepomis marcrochirus Yellow perch Perca flavescens Slimy sculpin Cottus cognatus
- Species collected during netting studies that were not impinged.
Source:
Reference 2.
4-20
10s - ALEWIFE - IMPINGED 105 104
~
103 102 I
u.
' ' ~ \\
8 0
g EE 400 - ALEWIFE - GILL NET so*
300 200 100 50 i
0 20 t
t t
N D J F M AMJ J'A S O MONTH Source:
Adapted from Reference 5 Figure 6.
Seasonal trends of alewife abundance in impingement and gill-net catches at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant--November 1974-I October 1975 l
4-21
Table 12.
Commercial fishery harvests (in kilograms, converted from pounds) from the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan for species that were recorded during impingement sampling at Point Beach Nuclear Plant, 1973-76 Yellow Year Alewife Smelt Perch Sucker Whitefish Carp a
1973 14,196,625 73,981 139,933 203,890 345,819 1,455,079 1974 18,019,184 152,634 378,704 141,067 536,872 1,471,408 c
1975 14,287,497 74,480 248,705 98,747 586,223 1,306,301 1976 15,689,669 92,669 203,527 127,505 740,353 339,469 aReference 35.
bReference 36.
CReference 37.
dReference 38.
Table 13.
Estimated total weight (in kilograms, converted from pounds) of impinged fishes at Point Beach Nuclear Plant that were of commercial fishery importance, 1973-77 Sample Yellow Year Alewife Smelt Perch Sucker Whitefish Carp Nov. 1973a Oct. 1974 6,677 63 21 (e)
(e) 63 Nov. 1974g Oct. 1975 15,038 253 30 57 14 88 Nov. 1975 Oct. 1976 45,412 454 13 54 112 141 Nov. 19763 Oct. 1977 48,621 91 5
41 0
391 t
l aReference 8.
bReference 5.
c i
Reference 6.
dReference 9.
' Weight not' reported.
i 4-22
4 4.3.4 Endangered Fishes During 1974, 12 specimens identified as shortjaw cisco (Coregonus zenithicus) and 1 specimen of blackfin cisco (Coregonus nigripinnis) were captured by gill net near Point Beach (Ref. 8).
At that time, shortjaw cisco was considered to be endangered within the State of Wisconsin, while blackfin cisco was con-sidered to be extirpated (no longer found in the State since 1800).
The most recent revision of the State's list of threatened and endangered species does not contain shortjaw cisco.
No specimens of either cisco species were identi-fled among impinged fishes.
Those fishes identified as "Coregonus spp" and "cisco spp" (Table 11) were most probably bloaters (Coregonus ho i) (Ref. 4).
No other fish species specified as endangered by the State or e eral Government have been captured at Point Beach.
4.3.5 Impingement Sampling Methods Impinged fish were collected by placing a sampling basket in the traveling screen backwash sluiceway (Ref. 2).
During 1973 and 1974, a basket with a mesh size of 19 mm was used.
Because the mesh size of the traveling screens is 9.5 mm (one-half the mesh length, but one quarter of the area opening of the sluiceway basket), small fish impinged on the screens could pass uncounted through the collection basket.
Small fish were observed being washed through the 19-mm-mesh basket, which was thought to be a valid collector of fish over 76 mm in length (Ref. 7).
By comparison, 9.5-mm-mesh traveling screens are generally effective in screening fish about 40-50 mm long.
To remedy that situation, the licensee tested a 9.5-mm collection basket " occasionally" during the period May-October 1975, with a resultant substantial increase in annual impingement numbers compared with those of the previous year, caused, in part, by the smaller-mesh basket (Ref. 5).
From November 1975 to February 1976, the smaller mesh basket was used once every 4 days (Ref. 6).
During the first 4 months of the November 1975-October 1976 sampling year, very few fish were collected during impingement sampling with the exception of those days when the smaller-mesh basket was used (Table 14).
Many young-of-the year snelt and alewives, as well as slimy sculpins, were retained by the smaller-mesh basket (Ref. 6), yet it was not used during the summer and fall months of 1976 when young fishes could have been expected in impingement samples.
The use of the smaller-mesh basket from November through February resulted in the following contributions to the total annual impinge-ment numbers for several species:
1.6% for alewives, 89.5% for smelt, 100%
for slimy sculpins, 100% for bluegill, 88.0% for brown trout, 100% for gizzard shad, 90.9% for lake trout,100% for ninespine sticklebacks, 79.2% for rainbow trout, 100% for spottail shiners and trout perch, 52.5% for yellow perch, and 90.1% for carp.
During the November 1975-October 1976 sampling year, a sub-stantial increase in annual impingement estimates occurred compared with those of previous years, even though the small-mesh basket was used only during the first 4 months of study on a 1-day-in-4 schedule.
The 9.5-mm small-mesh basket was not used on a full-time basis until the onset of the fifth and final year of study during November 1976-October 1977 (Ref. 9), when the sampling frequency was reduced.
Fish impingement for the period March 1, 1975-February 29, 1976 was recorded during the 316(b) intake monitoring study required by WPDES Permit (Tables 8 and 9).
The sampling methods included the use of a 9.5-mm-mesh basket and a 4-23
Table 14 Number of alewife, smelt, and all species in impingement samples caught in sampling baskets (9.5-mm-and 19-mm-sesh sizes) during 7-mth period when both were used interchangeagly at Point Beach Nuclear Plant; number of sampling days; and catches per-unit-of sampling-effort (CPUE), August 1975-February 1976 Nonth, Number of Fish, Number 9.5-am Basket 19-mm Basket Combined Total (8oth Baskets)
"9 87
Total Fish Total Fish Total Fish Alewife Smelt (All Species)
Alewife Smelt (All Species) Alewife Smelt (All Species) b Aug. 1975 No. of fish collected 8,939 1,354 10,327 1,982 20 2,014 10,921 1,374 12,341 Sampling days 8
8 8
23 23 23 31 31 31 CPUE-1,117.4 169.3 1,290.9 86.2 0.9 37.6 352.3 44.3 398.1 D
Sept. 1915 No. of fish collected 557 611 1,374 6
4 20 663 615 1,394 Sampling days 8
8 8
22 22 22 30 30 30 CPUE 69.6 76.4 171.8 0.3 0.2 0.9 22.1 20.5 46.5 D
Oct. 1975 No. of fish collected 1,128 341 1,527 463 2,880 3,585 1,591 3,221 5,112 Sampling days 6
6 6
25 25 25 31 31 31 CPUE 188.0 56.8 254.5 18.5 115.2 143.4 51.3 103.9 170.4 b
Nov. 1975 f
No. of fish collected 10,565 4,374 15,701 0
0 6
10.565 4,374 15,707 ro Sampling days 13 13 13 17 17 17 3C 30 30 CPUE 812.7 336.5 1,207.8 0
0 0.4 352.2 145.8 523.6 D
Dec. 1975 No. of. fish collected 2
512 1,161 0
2 17 2
514 1,178 Sampling days 14 14 14 17 17 17 31 31 31 CPUE 0.1 36.6 82.9 0
0.1 1.0 0.1 16.6 38.0 C
Jan. 1976 No. of fish collected 2
847 1,322 0
0 6
2 847 1,328 Sampling days 14 14 14 17 17 17 31 31 31 CPUE O
60.5 94.4 0
0 0.4 0.1 27.3 42.8 c
Feb. 1976 No. of fish collected 0
226 393 0
11 28 0
237 421 Sampiing days 12 12 12 17 17 17 29 29 29 CPUE O
18.8 32.8 0
0.6 16 0
8.2 14.5 Total No. of fish collected 21,193-8,265 31,805 2,451 2,917 5,676 23,744 11,182 37,481 Sampling days 75 75 75 138 138 138 213 213 213 CPUE 282.6 110.2 424.1 17.8 21.1 41.1 111.5 52.5 176.0
- CPUE is the mea'n catch per 8-hour period for the number of sampling days per month indicated.
bReference 5.
" Reference 6.
Table 15.
Comparison of impingement estimates from Environmental Technical Specifications (ETS) and Wisconsin Pollution Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) sampling programs during months when programs overlapped and when data set ; were complete, 1975-76 Month and Total Program Alewife Smelt (All Species)
Aug.31975 ETS 32,763 4,122 37,023 b
WPDES 83,443 7,285 91,113 Sept 1975 3
ETS 1,989 1,845 4,182 b
WPDES 6,727 7,447 15,194 Oct.31975 ETS 4,773 9,663 15,336 b
WPDES 37,727 122,962 164,425 Nov.c1975 ETS 31,695 13,122 47,121 b
WPDES 63,588 12,758 77,244 Dec.c19 5 ETS 6
1,542 3,534 b
WPDES 13 5,756 6,286 Jan.c1976 ETS 6
2,541 3,984 b
WPDES 16 6,283 6,591 Feb.c1976 ETS 0
711 1,263 b
WPDES 0
2,510 2,553 Total ETS 71,232 33,546 112,443 WPDES 191,514 165,001 363,406 3Reference 5.
bReference 3.
cReference 6.
24-hour fish collection once every fourth day.
Comparison of the data contained in Annual Reports No. 3 (1974-75) and No. 4 (1975-76) (Refs. 5 and 6, respec-tively) required by the Environmental Technical Specifications (ETS) with the data contained in the 316(b) study shows that during the months when the ETS and WPDES studies overlapped, impingement numbers reported to Wisconsin were higher than those reported to NRC (Table 15).
This discrepancy might be the 4-25
l combined result of the small-mesh basket and the 24-hour sample for the WPDES compared with the larger-mesh basket and 8-hour per-day sample for the ETS l
program.
l The WPDES study recorded length and weight data for-impinged fishes (Ref. 3).
Many fishes captured were less than 79 mm long, notably smelt, slimy sculpins, alewives, bluegill sunfish, ninespine sticklebacks, and gizzard shad.
During the fall months (October and November) of 1975 when the impingement of alewives, smelt, and sculpins increased, the f'sh of these species were primarily immature and the majority were 79 mm or less in length.
The use of the 19-mm-mosh basket during the first 4 years of the ETS program undoubtedly resulted in an underestimation of impingement h ses for several species.
This is unfortunate because the loss of data (number of fishes less than 79 mm long) was recognized during the first year of study (Ref. 7).
The data loss pertains primarily to the smaller species that constituted minor portions of the numbers of impinged fish and to young fish of some species (alewife and smelt) that were abundant in impingement samples.
Because the majority of alewives are impinged as adults during the spring and early sum-mer, the lost data would have been relevant for juvenile fishes (<79 mm long) l during late summer to early winter when the impingement loss was a small portion of the annual total.
Larger fishes (such as adult alewives, trout, salmon, suckers, carp, and yellow perch) would not have been affected by the use of either mesh size collection basket.
Although the methods used resulted in undesirable data losses, the losses do not appear to be so great that they would significantly alter the conclusions drawn concerning impacts.
4.3.6 Drecision of Loss Estimates The bounds placed on the impingement losses at the 95% confidence interval during the 5 years of study are shown in Table 7.
During the fifth year, the estimates were not as precise as those for the previous 4 years because of a reduction in sampling effort.
Recent developments in impingement study design (since the termination of sampling at Point Beach) suggest that the sampling frequency should be adjusted based on the time period or seasonality of abun-dance of important fish species--high frequency during periods of abundance and low frequency during periods of scarcity (Refs. 39 and 40).
This scheme is designed to reduce the variability and thus increase the precision and reliability of impingement-loss estimates.
In the absence of such a strati-fled sampling design, a simple random-sampling program should include a sampling frequency of not less than 20% (s 75 days in a year)~and need not exceed 50% (s 180 days) (Ref. 39).
The " day" sampling unit referred to was a 24-hour period--the number of fish impinged during a continuous 24-hour sam-pling day.
The impingement-sampling day at Point Beach generally was one 8-hour period per day, but the sampling frequency was nearly every day.
During the 5 years of study, the number and length of sampling days were as follows:
4-26
i Sampling Hours Number of Sampling Time Pcccent of Sample Period Sampling Days Period per Day Total Yearly Hours 1973 (May-Sept.)
182 8-hour 1,456 33.0 b
1973-74 347 8-hour 2,776 31.7 c
1974-75 288 8-hour 2,304 13 24-hour 312 4
16-hour 64 1974-75 (total)c 305 2,680 30.6 d
1975-76 366 8-hour 2,928 33.3 f
1976-77" 47 8-hour s376 4.3 Reference 7.
bReference 8.
cReference 5.
dReference 6.
" Reference 9.
IThe number of hours per sample period varied from 0.5 to 29.5 hours5.787037e-5 days <br />0.00139 hours <br />8.267196e-6 weeks <br />1.9025e-6 months <br />; most, however, were 7-9 hours.
The random-sampling design and sampling frequencies of approximately 31-33% at Point Beach during the first 4 years of study appear to have been adequate for reasonable determinations of impingement-loss estimates.
During 1973-77, however, the reduced sampling frequency was not adequate for determination of estimates comparable in precision with those of previous years.
During the 1974-75 sample year, 16-hour and 24-hour samples were collected during May, June, and early July 1975 (the small-mesh collection basket was used) when approximately 85% of the total annual impingement occurred.
This scheme essentially stratified the sampling for that year with maximum effort during the period of maximum fish abundance and availability (or susceptibility to impingement).
The result was that the 1974-75 study provided the narrowest bounds of loss estimates at the 95% confidence interval for all years sampled (Table 7).
4.3.7 Summary and
Conclusions:
Impingement Impingement of fishes on the intake screens of electric generating stations has been recognized as an unavoidable consequence of cooling-water withdrawal from water bodies containing fish (Ref. 29).
Based on reported results for several power plants (Refs. 29 and 30), impingement of fishes is a consequence of cooling-water withdrawal from Lake Michigan.
The number of fish impinged at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant has been estimated to be as high as 2 million per year, but losses have been small in relation to recreational and commercial fishery harvests, which were themselves portions of the total fish populations.
4-27
Relative to 16 other power plants studied on Lake Michigan (Ref. 30), the maximum cooling-water withdrawal at Point Beach (47.4 m /sec) was 7.2% of the a
17 plant total maximum withdrawal capacity of 654.8 m /sec.
Relative fish 3
impingement at Point Beach was 6.1% by number and 5.4% by weight of the 17 plant total.
The majority of fishes impinged at Point Beach were those that were the most abundant in Lake Michigan, principally alewives and rainbow smelt.
The abun-dance and predominance of alewives in impingement collections from power plants on Lake Michigan (Refs. 29 and 30) and Lake Ontario (Ref. 29) suggest that they are highly susceptible to entrapment and subsequent impingement during their inshore existence.
At Point Beach, peak impingement has occurred in the spring and early summer months during the shoreward migration of adult fish.
The length of impinged alewives has ranged from 33 mm to 251 mm (Ref. 3).
This range encompasses the entire juvenile-to adult life stages through the maximum age (s 6 years) in Lak2 Michigan waters (Ref. 41).
Thirty-three millimeters represents the approximate minimum length of fish impinged on the 9.5-mm-mesh traveling screens, with smaller fish passing through to be entrained in the condenser cooling water.
The susceptibility of alewives to impingement could be enhanced by their responses and orientation to water currents and velocity (Refs. 13-16) and to their reduced swimming speeds (less than the intake velocity) at low water temperatures (Refs. 42 and
- 43) that might occur during the spring and fall months when alewives are
}
abundant in the Point Beach area and impinged in large quantities.
On many l
occasions throughout the year, thermal plumes (surface and sinking plumes) l were observed to encompass the intake (Refs. 5, 6, and 8); thus, fish attracted to the plume could have had an increased potential for entrapment because of their proximity to the intake.
This phenomenon has been recognized at other Great Lakes power plants (Ref. 44).
This analysis has not documented any adverse or significant impacts on Lake Michigan fishes from impingement at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant.
This finding confirms the FES predictions, although impingement appears to have been much greater than anticipated in the FES.
The following design features of the intake crib and the station probably contribute to the higher values:
(1) the intake velocity of 61-73 cm/sec, (2) voids among the crib rocks that permit entrepment of large (and therefore small) fishes, (3) water withdrawal at the crib t'.rcughout the water column, and (4) thermal plumes encompassing the intake that might render attracted fishes susceptible to entrapment.
Additionally, bar gratings (30 mm x 51 mm) that cover the intake pipes on the offshore crib probably were only marginally successful in restricting entry of alewives into the crib.
For example, the body depth of an alewife is reported to be between 17.8% and 21.7% of the total length of the fish (Ref. 45).
At approximate maximum recorded sizes of 248 mm for gill-net fishing (Ref. 6) and 251 mm for impingement (Ref. 3), the respective body depths would be about 44-54 mm and 45-55 mm.
Because the overwhelming majority of alewives in the Point Beach area are smaller than the maximum size (most are about 100-200 mm), they could enter the intake crib through the bar i
gratings.
The gratings would prohibit entry of larger fishes, as is their l
stated purpose.
Although these design features result in impingement of l
fishes, no design changes are suggested or recommended because the identified effects have not been significant.
4-28
On February 8, 1978, the State of Wisconsin approved the licensee's 316(b) demonstration and concluded that "the entrapment impact of the intake struc-ture on Lake Michigan biological populations is clearly insignificant." The studies conducted by the licensee under the requirements of the WPDES permit and the NRC-ETS overlapped in time.
It is unfortunate that different sampling techniques (for example, frequency, sampling periods, and catch basket mesh size) were used for each program.
Both programs could reasonably have been satisfied by the same sampling and data, and even the same analyses and reports.
Because they were not, two agencies used different data and qualities of data to address similar issues in their decisionmaking processes.
4.4 Entrainment of Fish Eggs and Larvae 4.4.1 Species Composition, Density, and Seasonality Studies of fish eggs and larvae conducted between 1973 and 1977 documented the occurrence of eight taxa in entrainment and lake samples.
The most abundant species throughout the period were alewife, smelt, and sculpin, with consider-ably lower numbers of yellow perch, catostomid spp, lake chub, longnose dace, and Coregonus spp.
During the first 3 years of sampling, density estimates of eggs and larvae were not recorded (Refs. 5, 7, and 8), but the numbers of organisms captured were presented by species.
Density values were recorded during the last 2 years of study (Refs. 6 and 9) and during the 316(b) egg and larvae program (Ref. 3).
Ichthyoplankon densities for lake-bottom pump and L.nphouse entrainment sampling during the ETS program were reported as numbers a
a of eggs or larvae per m of water (No./m ), while plankton net densities were 3
reported as No./1,000 m.
For clarity, all density values have been standardized to No./1,000 ma in this assessment.
During 1976, alewife eggs first appeared in lake-bottom pump samples collected in the thermal plume area on June 3-4 at a density of 7,000/1,000 ma (Ref. 6).
Maximum egg density reached 4,075,100/1,000 m3 3
on July 6-7 in the plume area, while densitis.3 in the north and south reference areas were 1,531,100/1,000 ma a
and 16,900/1,000 m, respectively.
Alewife eggs were captured by entrainment sampling in the pumphouse only on July 6-7 (390/1,000 m ) and August 2-3 3
3 (1,750/1,000 m ).
Alewife larvae were never captured during pumphouse entrain-ment sampling in 1976, but lake plankton net tows took them on July 6-7 at the 3
3 offshore intake crib (51.8/1,000 m ) and in the plume (155.8/1,000 m ); on a
August 2-3 in the plume (9.3/1,000 m ); and on September 9-10 in the north a
3 reference (10.1/1,000 m ) and south reference (6.0/1,000 m ) areas only.
Smelt eggs first appeared in lake-bottom pump samples during 1976 in the plume a
area on April 5-6 at a density of 100/1,000 m.
Maximum density reached 3
805,600/1,000 m on May 4-5, also in the plume; densities in the north and 3
3 south reference areas were 700/1,000 m and 1,900/1,000 m, respectively.
PumphouseentrainmentsamplingcapturedsmelteggsonlyonMay4-5ata recorded density of 5/1,000 m.
Smelt larvae were never captured during pumphouse entrainment sampling in 1976, and once (June 3-4) by lake-net 3
3 sampling at densities of 37.6/1,000 m near the intake crib and 5.7/1,000 m in the north reference area.
During 1976, slimy sculpin eggs were not cap-tured by any sampling method at any location, including pumphouse entrainment.
A total of three sculpin larvae were captured by plankton net in the lake, one a
a each on May 4-5 (17.8/1,000 m ), July 6-7 (8.9/1,000 m ), and August 2-3 3
(6.9/1,000 m ).
i 4-29
4.4.2 Thermal Plume--Entrainment Interaction The appearance of alewife and smelt eggs in the plume earlier in the season than their appearance in control areas, along with the maximum densities in the plume of alewife eggs and larvae and smelt eggs, suggests that either egg release or spawning was stimulated earlier in the plume than in ambient-temperature areas during 1976.
Egg deposition per unit of lake-bottom area also might have been greater in the plume.
Similar phenomena were noted during each of the first 3 years of study (Refs. 5, 7, and 8).
On July 6 when alewife eggs were at their greatest density, water temperatures of the lake were 16-17 C in the reference areas and 21 C in the plume area (Ref. 6).
Studies have shown that these temperatures are within the preferred range for Lake Michigan alewives during the spring to summer period (Ref. 18) and that the hatching success of alewife eggs is greatest at temperatures that are between about 17 and 21 C (63-70 F) (Ref. 46).
High mortality for alewife eggs is normal during the first few days following fertilization (Ref. 46).
At temperatures that are between 17 and 21*C, the incubation time (fertiliza-tion to hatching) is about 4-6 days and the mortality is approximately 60-70%
(Ref. 46).
Even though they stimulated early spawning, thermal discharges probably did not have detrimental effects (thermal shock) on eggs released in the plume.
Mortality of eggs released in the plume area might be affected more by entrain-ment through the cooling system than by plume temperatures.
For example, on July 6-7, 1976, entrainment sampling was conducted at the pumphouse for 26.8 hours9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br />, resulting in the capture of 158 alewife eggs in a sample volume of 3
3 402.2 m, or a mean density of 390 eggs /1,000 m.
On July 6-7, both power-plant units were operating at an intake flow rate of 24.4 m /sec each, or a 3
3 total of 48.7 m /sec. (Ref. 6).
The total volume withdrawn during the 26.8-hour entrainment period would have been about 4,698,576 m.
At a density 3
3 of 390 eggs /1,000 m, the total estimated number of alewife eggs entrained would have been 1,832,445.
Similar calculations for the number of alewife eggs entrained on August 2-3 (1,750/1,000 m ) yield an estimate of about 3
6,427,629 eggs.
Sampling was conducted on a once per-month basis with most of the smelt eggs taken on only one sampling date (May 4-5) and alewife eggs taken on two dates.
Calculation of estimates of the total number of fish eggs entrained during the spawning season would not produce reliable or accurate results because sampling was infrequent.
It appears reasonable to conclude, however, that total entrainment of alewife eggs could have been in the tens of millions.
The warming of lake waters by thermal effluents will influence lake spawning I
by alewives where spawning naturally occurs only infrequently (Ref. 47).
The evidence suggests that this phenomenon is occurring at Point Beach.
Under an assumption that only a fraction of the alewife eggs released at Point Beach i
l become entrained, the total egg release would be much greater than the esti-i mated number of eggs entrained. Whether this phenomenon results in increased l
lake spawning area and increased alewife productivity or a decrease in egg releases by alewives at more preferred spawning grounds is unknown.
Apparently, the same phenomenon is occurring for smelt.
Smelt spawn in or near mouths of streams or rivers or along the shores of sand or gravel beaches (Ref. 48).
I Smelt (like alewife) is an exotic, introduced species in Lake Michigan that is l
actually of marine origin.
The coastal stocks of smelt and alewives are anadromous fishes that migrate into freshwater streams to spawn.
Attraction 4-30
to the effluent plume by smelt and alewives, therefore, might be both a func-tion of seeking an opposing current (as would be encountered during upstream movement) and one of seeking warmer water for spawning.
4.4.3 Total Entrainment Losses and Interplant Comparisons During the period of recorded alewife egg entrainment (July 6-August 3, 1976),
the AT's for the two Point Beach units were approximately 7-10?C, with minimum and maximum discharge temperatures of 24.4 C and 27.8 C, respectively (Ref. 6).
Therefore, entrained alewife eggs could have received a thermal shock of up to 10 C.
In experiments designed to simulate a time-temperature treatment effect that fish eggs might experience during power plant entrainment, alewife eggs were subjected to thermal shocks of 6-10 C for 2.5-90 min and then slowly returned (1-5 hours) to near-ambient temperature.
The hatching success of thermally shocked eggs did not differ significantly from that of controls (Refs. 49 and 50). The ambient experimental temperature ranged from 12.0 to 14.5?C, thus shock temperature would have been 22.0-24.5?C.
Even though the maximum test temperatures were slightly less than those potentially expe-rienced at Point Beach, the results suggest that alewife eggs are relatively resistant to thermal shock at temperatures that exist at Point Beach.
The effects of mechanical stresses during entrainment were not investigated, but they could have a greater impact on fish eggs and larvae than the temperature effect (Refs. 49 and 50).
Although survival of some portion (amount undetermined) of entrained alewife eggs probably occurs, a worst-case analysis can assume 100% mortality.
High mortality of alewife eggs during their first few days is normal (Ref. 46), and the mortality rate from spawned egg to sur-viving young-of-the year has been estimated to be 99.9987% (that is, about one surviving juvenile alewife for every 80,000 eggs spawned [Ref. 51]--a survival rate of 0.0013%).
The total number of eggs estimated to have been entrained on the two sampling dates in 1976 (July 6-7 and August 2-3) equalled 8,260,074.
At the above rate of survival, the, entrained eggs theoretically could have resulted in the production of 107 juvenile alewives.
Lake Michigan alewives are reported to spawn only once during their lifetime and the number of eggs produced per spawning female ranges from 11,147 to 22,407 (mean about 16,600)
(Ref. 52).
The 8,260,074 entrained eggs, therefore, theoretically could have been equivalent to the number of eggs produced by about 500 female alewives.
During 1977, fish eggs and larvae were sampled twice per month from April through October in the lake (plankton nets and bottom pumps) and in the pump-house for entrainment estimates (Ref. 9).
Alewife eggs were captured first on 3
June 7 only by bottom pump and at a density of 6,770 eggs /1,000 m.
Entthin-3 ment sampling captured alewife eggs on July 12 (2,140/1,000 m ), July 20 3
3 (22.0/1,000 m ), and August 15 (5.9/1,000 m ), a time period of 34 days.
Based on the daily mean volume of water withdrawn by the power pant and the daily mean density of alewife eggs during that period, an estimated 95,000,000 alewife eggs were entrained.
At a survival rate of 0.0013%, an estimated 1,235 young-of-the year fish would have been lost, assuming nonreplacement by compensation and 100% mortality of entrained eggs.
Alewife larvae were cap-3 tured during entrainment sampling on July 20 at a density of 5.47/1,000 m (resulting in an estima i loss of 22,964 larvae on that day) and on 3
September 28 (1.97/1,000 m ) when an estimated 8,268 larvae were entrained.
Alewife larvae were captured by plankton net on four dates, with peak abun-dance on July 12 at 292.61/1,000 m.
Alewife eggs and larvae were sampled a
4-31
inshore of the intake crib at the 5-m-depth contour and offshore of the crib at the 9-m contours.
Eggs were 1-2 orders of magnitude more dense inshore, and larvae were 3-6 times more dense inshore than offshore.
Smelt eggs first appeared in bottom pump samples during 1977 on April 26 at a a
density of 2,600/1,000 m.
Smelt eggs were taken during entrainment sampling 3
a from April 29 (7,020/1,000 m ) through May 10 (42/1,000 m ), a time period of 13 days during which an estimated 135,038,389 eggs were entrained.
The sur-vival rate of smelt from egg to larval stage in southern Lake Michigan has been estimated at 0.03% (Ref. 48).
At that survival rate, the entrained eggs theoretically could have meant a loss of 40,512 larvae.
Smelt larvae were a
3 entrained on July 20 (5.42/1,000 m ) and on September 21 (2.25/1,000 m ),
resulting in an estimated loss of 32,410 larvae on those 2 days.
Sculpin eggs were not captured during 1977, but larvae were entraineo on April 26 (2 larvae captured; density of 5.0/1,000 m ) and on May 5 (l larvae; 3
i density of 5.87/1,000 m ), resulting in an estimated loss of 47,;00 larvae.
3 During the period April 18-October 31, 1975, entrainment sampling o' fish eggs and larvae was conducted in the pumphouse concurrent with impingement sampling (once every fourth day) under the WPDES 316(b) program (Ref. 3).
Sampling by submersible pump was similar to that performed under the ETS program during 3
1976 and 1977.
Fish eggs were captured between June 21 (17.70/1,000 m ) and a
August 20 (1.39/1,000 m ), with the peak density occurring on July 23' 3
(140.34/1,000 m ).
All eggs were alewife and the estimated total number entrained was 4,661,410, representing the production of about 212-424 adult female fish.
The peak density of alewife eggs in entrainment samples during 1975 apparently was more than 1 order of magnitude less than those recorded during 1976 (Ref. 6) and 1977 (Ref. 9).
Entrainment samplirq during the 316(b) program captured four larval species--
alewife, smelt, slimy sculpin, and longnose sucker (Ref. 3).
Sucker larvae were entrained only on May 20 and May 24 (1.28-1.35/1,000m ).
Alewive larvae a
were entrained between July 7 and September 29, with the peak density on a
August 20 (6.97/1,000 m ).
Sculpin larvae were entrained between July 7 and August 16, with t% peak density on August 4 (5.84/1,000 m ).
Smelt larvae a
were entrained between August 4 and October 31, with the peak density on 3
August 8 (28.46/1,000 m ).
The total estimated number of fish larvae entrained was 2,082,525 (Ref. 3).
Of these, 20% were alewife, 61% smelt, 17% sculpin, and about 2% sucker.
Larval occurrence in entrainment samples did not correspond well with their occurrence in lake survey samples.
Densities of larvae in lake samples generally were greater than those in entrainment samples.
Reasons for the stated differences were a possible avoidance of the intake crib by larvae or a disparity in sampling efficiencies of the entrainment method (pump) compared with the lake method (towed plankton nets).
A similar disparity occurred during 1977 when smelt eggs were far more abundant in i
entrainment samples than in lake samples collected by either plankton net or l
bottom pump and smelt larvae were more abundant in lake net catches than in pumphouse entrainment samples (Ref. 9).
Although alewife eggs were more dense in lake-bottom pump samples than in entrainment samples during 1977, trends in abundance were similar for both methods.
Alewife larvae were more abundant and collected more frequently by plankton net than by entrainment pump (Ref. 9).
4-32
During the period April 1975-March 1976, a survey was conducted of entrainment of fish eggs and larvae at 11 power plants on Lake Michigan--Pulliam, Kewaunee, Point Beach, Edgewater, Port Washington, Lakeside, Oak Creek, Zion, Waukegan, State Line, and Hitchell (Fig. 5 and Ref. 30).
The species reported to have been entrained at Point Beach were alewife, smelt, and sculpin, which consti-tuted the following proportions of the total 11 plant entrainment estimates:
Fish Eggs at Point Beach Fish Larvae at Point Beach Species Number
% of Total Number
% of Total Alewife 4,374,770 0.09 380,356 1.51 Smelt 0
0 1,192,846 10.03 Sculpin 0
0 327,935 47.20 Alewife eggs and larvae were entrained (total annual estimated losses) at levels of 1-2 orders of magnitude higher at the power plants located along the southwestern and southern shores of the lake (from Zion Nuclear Plant to Dean H. Mitchell) than at Point Beach.
This fact is in keeping with the greater abundance of alewives in the southern portion of the lake than in the northern portion of the lake proper (Ref. 48).
Lake Michigan alewives spawn in tributary streams, but spawning is common in the sheltered areas of Green Bay in the northern part of the lake and along the unprotected shoreline (Ref. 47).
Thus, the level of entrainment at Point Beach most likely would exert minimal impact on alewives, because the power plant is located in a relatively unproductive area of the lake with respect to alewife spawning.
4.4.4 Summary and
Conclusions:
Entrainment Sampling during the operation of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant has documented the entrainment of fish eggs and larvae, principally those of alewife, smelt, and sculpin.
Overall, alewives have been entrained primarily as eggs and to a much lesser extent as larvae.
Smelt entrainment has been variable, with both eggs and larvae involved.
Only sculpin larvae have been entrained.
During the first 3 years of the ETS studies, densities of entrained plankton were not recorded.
During the fourth year (1976), sampling was performed on a once per-month basis that was inadequate for an accurate representatio,n (quantitative) of annual entrainment losses.
However, lake sampling was i
conducted in the plume and control areas and established that ichthyoplankters were appearing earlier and in greater abundance in the plume.
These findings suggest that egg release or spawning was stimulated earlier in the season and at a greater relative magnitude within the effluent plume than in ambient-temperature areas.
During 1977, entrainment sampling was conducted on a more frequent, but erratic, basis at intervals of 1-26 days, with seasonal entrain-ment losses of fish eggs estimated at 95 million for alewives and 135 million for smelt.
The inconsistent sampling regime renders the precision of these estimates as unreliable and probably inflated.
The estimates do show, however, that entrainment at_ Point Beach appears to affect fish eggs more than fish larvae.
The 1977 studies of ichthyoplankton abundance in the lake compared 4-33
with that near the pumphouse showed much greater densities in lake than in entrainment samples and greater densities in the lake shoreward of the intake crib than seaward of it.
This is a common and recognized phenomenon for Lake Michigan alewives, with lake spawning generally occurring in water shallower than 9 m (Ref. 48).
Entrainment sampling during the 316(b) sampling program in 1975 was conducted on a frequent and consistent basis and provided the most precise data col-lected at Point Beach for entrainment-loss estimates.
Again, fish eggs were entrained in greater quantity than larvae (by more than a 2-to-1 ratio for all species and by more than an order of magnitude for alewives).
At an entrainment level of about 4.6 million eggs and 2 million larvae annually, significant impacts should not occur.
Effluent temperatures do not appear to have been in the detrimental range for eggs released in the plume.
Because fishes find the plume area conducive to release of eggs, the temperatures are probably not detrimental to either the eggs or larvae.
As suggested for alewives, however, the lake shore might not be the most desirable location for spawning, and, consequently, for subsequent survival of eggs and larvae.
Fish eggs normally experience a high mortality, but releases under less-than-optimum conditions probably result in mortality i
that is higher than normal.
This could be the case for eggs released as a l
result of spawning stimulated by thermal effluents at Point Beach.
Er,gs released earlier than is normal might not be fully mature, with a re5alting lower rate of fertilization success.
It is unknown whether a reduc + son in spawning effort and success occurs on more preferred grounds (because of early stimulation by the plume).
Because the plume has been observed to encompass the intaxe area, eggs released or larvae hatched in the plume might be more susceptible to entrapment by the intake (with subsequent entrainment through the cooling system) than if released in waters outside the plume.
On several occasions during the 5 year ETS study period, cooling-water intake temperatures were recorded to be 1-2 C warmer than temperatures in surrounding areas.
This fact suggests some recirculation of effluents.
Recirculation and re entrainment of eggs or larvae (should that occur) could increase their entrainment mortality, but the numbers re-entrained probably are few.
Spawning of alewives in Lake Michigan occurs at the water surface, and because the eggs are slightly negatively buoyant, they drift to the bottom (Ref. 48).
The ability of the offshore intake crib at Point Beach to withdraw water from the entire water column suggests that eggs released near tbc crib (or those carried to it by lake currents or effluent plume currents) potentially are subject to entrapment throughout the column, with l
little or no " refuge" area in the water column.
Similarly, eggs released near the lake bottom (by smelt and sculpins) are subject to entrapment also.
The lakeshore area near Point Beach appears to be a low productivity area for fishes in comparison with other areas of the lake (especially the southern portion and the Green Bay area to the north); thus, impacts from the operation l
of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant should be minimal.
l l
This analysis has not documented any significant or adverse impacts on Lake Michigan fish populations from entrainment of eggs and larvae at Point Beach Nuclear Plant.
No marked or consistent annual changes in alewife-abundance j
4-34
trends (CPUE) in gill-net samples, along with increased catches (CPUE) of fishes by impingement, suggest that adverse impacts on fishes (especially alewives) of the Point Beach area have not occurred.
This finding confirms the overall FES predictions, although entrainment appears to have been greater than anticipated.
Also, the FES did not consider the effects on ichthyoplankton from interactions between thermal plumes and the offshore intake crib.
Although several design features of Point Beach Nuclear Plant apparently contribute to entrainment of fish eggs and larvae, no design changes are suggested or recommended because significant impacts have not been documented.
On February 8,1978, the State of Wisconsin approved the licensee's 316(b) demonstration and concluded:
" Total entrainment at Point Beach seems to be insignificant based upon the findings of the March 1975-February 1976 study program.
Entrainment of ichthyoplankton was confined to three highly pro-ductive species:
alewife, smelt and sculpin." (Ref. 53).
As recognized for impingement studies, the entrainment programs conducted under the ETS (for NRC) and the WPDES (for the State of Wisconsin) were overlapping and had different requirements.
This resulted in submittals of different data (and quality of data) to each agency.
Again, similar decisions were required of different agencies, each using differing qualities of information.
4-35
1 5 CONCLUSIONS Significant adverse impacts on Lake Michigan biota resulting from the operation of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant have not occurred.
Localized effects that appear to be related primarily to the thermal discharge have been identified.
ihey are (1) Altered productivity, diversity, and density of periphyton and plankton in the thermal plume area (2) Attraction of fishes (especially alewives and salmonids) to the plume on a seasonal basis (3) Stimulation of egg release or spawning of fishes in the plume area earlier in the season and in greater intensity than in ambient-temperature areas (4) An increase in the recreational harvest of salmonids resulting from fish attraction to the thermal plume and development of access facilities for fishermen (5)
Interactions between the thermal plume and the offshore intake crib that could increase the potential for entrapment of fish (eggs, larvae, juveniles, and adults) in the intake crib.
The operation primarily affects the exotic fishes (that is, alewives, smelt, and stocked salmonids) rather than the native lake fish species.
However, it is the exotic fishes that now constitute either a significant portion of recreational and commercial fishery harvests or significant portions of the forage food resources for important predator species.
Several design features of both the offshore intake and the shoreline discharge (and the potential interaction of the two) that contributed to localized effects on lake biota illustrate the usefulness of examining intake and discharge effects together rather than separately.
The review of opera-tional experience at Point Beach also showed that some station design features apparently contributed to greater effects than those anticipated.
This knowledge should prove useful for siting and designing future power plants on Lake Michigan and for future impact assessment and prediction.
The far-field lake studies conducted during the 5 year program were useful in interpreting the significance of entrainment and impingement information.
Similarly, recreational fishery harvest data compiled over several years by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant (and for the lake in general) were valuable f;. providing insight into the magnitude of the effects of thermal discharges on important lake fishes and fisheries.
The studies conducted at Point Beach by researchers from Argonne National Laboratory (and published in the open literature) also were very useful and provided understanding of the operational effects of the power plant that complemented other available information.
All of the above site-specific studies coupled with information from the general literature on Lake Michigan biota and power plant effects were importaat in the analysis and 5-1
suggest the need for an encompassing examination of potential power plant impacts beyond entrainment and impingement information only.
Considering the size of Lake Michigan and the total forces and stresses exerted on it from both natural and human sources, it is not surprising that impacts from one power plant (Point Beach) were not detected.
However, the localized effects that were identified at Point Beach suggest the need for an examination of the total or combined impact potential of localized effects at all power plants on Lake Michigan.
Because most of the existing facilities use once-through cooling (Ref. 54) and many utilize shoreline discharges, the plume-related phenomena of attraction of fishes and increased egg releases, as well l
as intake / discharge interactions, might not be unique to the Point Beach Nuclear l
Plant.
Assessment of the acceptability of impact on alewife (the fish species most affected by the operation of Point Beach) is complicated because of its status as both a nuisance species and an important economic resource.
Alewife abundance has had a strong influence on the reduction of lake zooplankton (Refs. 31, 55, and 56).
It contributed to the decline of native fish stocks (that is, yellow perch and emerald shiners) by competing with them and physically displacing them in the inshore lake areas, especially during the spawning season (Refs. 32 and 33).
During the 1950's and 1960's, alewife experienced mass dieoffs or mortalities in Lake Michigan and became a nuisance to the public and to lake-shore industries (Refs. 31, 41, and 42).
Conversely, alewife is an important commercial species in Lake Michigan, with annual harvests in the tens-of-millions of kilograms.
Alewives have become a major forage resource for important predator species, such as trout, salmon, northern pike, smallmouth bass, walleye, burbot, and bowfin (Refs. 47, 57, and 58).
It has been suggested, also, that I
large-scale harvesting of Lake Michigan alewives possibly could help reduce the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in trout and salmon that feed on them, because alewives accumulate PCB's at higher levels than other forage fish (Ref. 59).
i Once the biological significance of an impact (from power plant operation) on a species or resource is determined, the acceptability of the impact becomes a value judgment, often based on socioeconomic considerations.
In the case of the alewife in Lake Michigan, withdrawal or removal of it by power plants (for example) could be considered unacceptable if the species is considered a valu-able economic resource, either directly (commercial harvest) or indirectly (forage for important sport fishes).
On the other hand, removal might be acceptable, or even desirable, if the alewife is considered a pest or if removal might help to rehabilitate native or more desirable fish stocks.
t Although a satisfactory or ultimate solution to this alewife dichotomy is not apparent, an interim resolution could aid in judging acceptability of impacts and could shed some light on the conflict between the recognized large-scale losses of Great Lakes fishes by entrainment and impingement at once-through cooling power plants (Ref. 54) and the high costs and disadvantages of instituting alternative cooling-system designs (Refs. 44 and 60).
1 5-2
1 6 REFERENCES 1.
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, " Final Environmental Statement Related to 2
Operation of Point Beach Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2," Docket Nos. 50-266 and 50-301.
Directorate of Licensing, Washington, D.C., 1972.
2.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company, "Non-Radiological Environmental Surveillance Program.
Five Year Summary Report - November 1972 through October 1977," Point Beach Nuclear Plant Unit Nos. 1 and 2, Docket Nos. 50-266 and 50-301, 1978.
3.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company, " Point Beach Nuclear Plant Final Report on Intake Monitoring Studies Performed by Wisconsin Electric Power Company in Fulfillment of Conditions of Wisconsin Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit Number WI-0000957," 1976.
4.
Wistcnsin Electric Power Company, " Response to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Request for Additional Information Regarding Changes to Non-Radiological Environmental Surveillance Program Dated June 22, 1979,"
16 p plus letter attachment dated August 22, 1979, from Sol Burstein, Executive Vice President, Wisconsin Electric Power Company, Milwaukee, to Harold R. Denton, Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Washington, D.C.,
1979.
5.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company and Wisconsin Michigan Power Company, "Non-Radiological Environmental Surveillance Program," Annual Report Number 3, November 1974 through October 1975, Point Beach Nuclear Plant Unit Nos. 1 and 2, Docket Nos. 50-266 and 50-301, 1976.
6.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company and Wisconsin Michigan Power Company, "Non-Radiological Environmental Surveillance Program," Annual Report Number 4, November 1975 through October 1976, Point Beach Nuclear Plant Unit Nos. 1 and 2, Docket Nos. 50-266 and 50-301, 1977.
7.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company and Wisconsin Michigan Power Company, "Non-Radiological Environmental Surveillance Program," Annual Report Number 1, 1 September 1972 through 1 November 1973, Point Beach Nuclear Plant Unit Nos. 1 and 2, Docket Nos. 50-266 and 50-301, 1974.
8.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company and Wisconsin Michigan Power Company, "Non-Radiological Environmental Surveillance Program," Mnual Report Number 2, November 1973 through October 1974, Point Beach Nuclear Plant Nos. 1 and 2, Docket Nos. 50-266 and 50-101, 1975.
9.
Wisconsin Electric Power Company, "Non-Radiological Environmental Surveillance Program," Annual Report Number 5, November 1976 through October 1977, Point Beach Nuclear Plant Unit Nos. 1 and 2, Docket Nos. 50-266 and 50-301, 1978.
10.
B. Hoglund and S. A. Spigarelli, " Studies of the Sinking Plume Phenomenon,"
in Pecceedings of the 15th Conference on Great Lakes Research, International Associab cn for Great Lakes Research, pp. 614-624, 1972.
6-1
I 11.
D. C. McNaught, " Recovery of Entrained Zooplankton Populations:
A Model to Predict Impact on Great Lakes Communities," in Third National Workshop on Entrainment and Impingement, Section 316(b) - Research and Compliance, L. D. Jensen, Ed, Ecological Analysts, Inc., Melville, N.Y., pp.93-100, 1976.
12.
S. A. Spigarelli, " Behavioral Responses of Lake Michigan Fishes to a Nuclear Power Plant Discharge," in Environmental Effects of Cooling Systems at Nuclear Power Plants, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, pp. 479-44a 1975.
13.
G. P. Rosoe,g, S. A. Spigarelli, W. Prepejchal, and M. M. Thommes,
" Migratory Behavior of Fish Tagged at a Nuclear Power Plant Discharge Into Lake Michigan," in Proceedings of the 17th Conference on Great Lakes Research, International Association for Great Lakes Research, pp. 68-77, 1974.
14.
G. P. Romberg, S. A. Spigarelli, W. Prepejchal, and M. M. Thommes, " Fish Behavior at a Thermal Discharge Into Lake Michigan," in Thermal Ecology, J. W. Gibbons and R. R. Sharitz, Eds, AEC Symposium Series, CONF-730505, pp. 296-312, 1974.
15.
W. A. Richkus, "The Response of Juvenile Alewives to Water Currents in an Experimental Chamber," Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 104(3):494-498, 1975.
16.
W. A. Richkus, " Migratory Behavior and Growth of Juvenile Anadromous Alewives, Alosa pseudoharengus, in a Rhode Island Drainage," Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 104(3):483-493, 1975.
17.
G. B. Collins, " Factors Influencing the Orientation of Migrating Alewives,"
Fishery Bulletin, 52(73):375-396, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C., 1952.
18.
R. G. Otto, M. A. Kitchel, and J. O. Rice, " Lethal and Preferred Temperatures of the Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) in Lake Michigan,"
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 105(1):96-106, 1976.
19.
G. P. Romberg and M. M. Thommes, " Comparison of the Movement and Recapture of Salmonid Fishes Tagged at Two Power Plants," in Radiological and Environmental Research Division Annual Report - Ecology, January -
December 1974, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill., pp. 133-142, 1975.
20.
S. A. Spigarelli and M. M. Thommes, " Temperature Selection and Estimated Thermal Acclimation by Rainbow Trout (Salmo gairdneri) in a Thermal Plume," Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 36(4):366-376, 1979.
l 21.
S. A. Spigarelli and D. W. Smith, " Growth of Plume ' Resident' Fishes in Lake Michigan," in Radiological and Environmental Research Division Annual Report - Ecology, January - December 1974, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill., pp. 173-179, 1975.
6-2
22.
S. A. Spigarelli and D. W. Smith, " Growth of Salmonid Fishes From Heated and Unheated Areas of Lake Michigan - Measured by RNA-DNA Ratios," in Thermal Ecology II, G. W. Esch and R. W. McFarlane, Eds., ERDA Symposium Series CONF-750425, pp. 100-105, 1976.
23.
T. A. Edsall and T. G. Yocum, " Review of Recent Technical Information Concerning the Adverse Effects of Once Through Cooling on Lake Michigan,"
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ann Arbor, Mich., 86 p.,1972.
- 24. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, "The Great Lakes Sport Fishery 1977," Madison, Wis., 1977.
25.
Great Lakes Fishery Commission, " Annual Report for the Year 1975," Ann Arbor, Mich., 95 p.,
1978.
26.
Great Lakes Fishery Commission, " Annual Report for the Year 1976," Ann Arbor, Mich., 127 p.,
1979.
27.
R. R. Sokal and F. J. Rohlf, Biometry, W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco, 776 p.,
1969.
28.
S. A. Spigarelli and M. M. Thommes, " Sport Fishing at a Thermal Discharge Into Lake Michigan," Journal of Great Lakes Research, 2(1):99-110, 1976.
29.
R. K. Sharma and R. F. Freeman III, " Survey of Fish Impingement at Power Plants in the United States, Vol. I, The Great Lakes," ANL/ES-56, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill., 218 p.,1977.
30.
CDM/Limnetics, "The Lake-Wide Effects of Impingement and Entrainment on the Lake Michigan Fish Populations," Milwaukee, Wis., 248 p.,
1977.
31.
L. Wells and A. L. McLain, " Lake Michigan, Man's Effects on Native Fish Stocks and Other Biota," Technical Report No. 20, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Ann Arbor, Mich., 55 p.,
1973.
32.
S. H. Smith, " Species Interactions of the Alewife in the Great Lakes,"
Transactions of the American Fisheri_es Society, 99(4):754-765, 1970.
33.
L. Wells, " Changes in Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) Populations of Lake Michigan, 1954-75," Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 34(10):1821-1829, 1977.
34.
L. J. Ladeone, " Operational Environmental Monitoring Program of Lake Michigan Near Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant, Sixth Annual Report, January-December 1976," NALC0 Environmental Sciences, Northbrook, Ill., 1977.
l 35.
U.S. Department of Commerce, " Fishery Statistics of the United States,"
Statistical Digest No. 67, Washington, D.C.1976.
36.
U.S. Department of Commerce, " Great Lakes Fisheries, Annual Summary 1974," Current Fisheries Statistics No. 7231, Washington, D.C.,1976.
37.
U.S. Department of Commerce, " Great Lakes Fisheries, Annual Summary 1975," Current Fisheries Statistics No. 7410, Washington, D.C.,
1978.
6-3
38.
U.S. Department of Commerce, "Gieat Lakes Fisheries, Annual Summary 1976," Current Fisheries Statistics No. 7705, Washington, D.C., 1979.
39.
I. P. Murarka and D. J. Bodeau, " Sampling Designs and Methods for Estimatin; Fish-Impingement Losses at Cooling Water Intakes," ANL/ES-60, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill., 277 p.,
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40.
F. M. El-Shamy, " Impingement Sampling Frequency. A Multiple Population Approach," Environmental Science and Technology, 13(3):315-320, 1979.
41.
E. H. Brown, Jr., " Population Biology of Alewives, Alosa pseudoharengus, in Lake Michigan, 1949-1970," Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 29(5):477-500, 1972.
42.
P. J. Colby, " Alewife Dieoffs:
Why Do They Occur?," Limnos, 4(2):18-27, 1971.
43.
P. J. Colby, " Response of the Alewives, Alosa pseudoharengus, to Environmental Change," in Responses of Fish to Environmental Changes, W. Chavin, Ed., Thomas Books, Springfield, Ill., pp. 163-198, 1973.
44.
G. R. Francis, J. J. Magnuson, H. A. Regier, and D. R. Talhelm,
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45.
P. W. Jones, F. D. Martin, and J. D. Hardy, Jr., " Development of Fishes of the Mid-Atlantic Bight.
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46.
T. A. Edsall, "The Effect of Temperature on the Rate of Development and Survival of Alewife Eggs and Larvae," Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 99(2):376-380, 1970.
47.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, " Physical and Ecological Effects of Waste Heat on Lake Michigan," U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.,
101 p. 1970.
48.
CDM/Limnetics, " Review of the Literature on Lake Michigan Fish," Milwaukee, Wis., 1976.
49.
J. R. Schubel, " Effects of Exposure to Time-Excess Temperature Histories Typically Experienced at Power Plants on the Hatching Success of Fish Eggs," Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science, 2(2):105-116, 1974.
50.
J. R. Schubel, "Some Comments on the Thermal Effects of Power Plants on Fish Eggs and Larvae," in Fisheries and Energy Production:
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51.
G. W. Kissil, " Spawning of the Anadromous Alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, in Bride Lake, Connecticut," Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 103(2):312-317, 1974.
6-4
52.
C. R. Norden, " Age, Growth and Fecundity of the Alewife, Alosa
'seudoharengus (Wilson), in Lake Michigan," Transactions of the American
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- 387-393, 1967.
53.
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Ricci, Senior Vice President, Wisconsin Electric Power Company, Milwaukee, dated February 8, 1978.
54.
J. R. M. Kelso and G. S. Milburn, "Entrainment and Impingement of Fish by Power Plants in the Great Lakes Which Use the Once-Through Cooling Process,"
Journal of Great Lakes Research, 5(20):182-194, 1979.
55.
S. H. Smith, "The Future of Salmonid Communities in the Laurentian Great Lakes," Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 29(6):951-957, 1972.
56.
L. Wells, " Effects of Alewife Predation on Zooplankton Populations in Lake Michigan," Limnology and Oceanography, 15(4):556-565, 1970.
57.
W. C. Wagner, " Utilization of Alewives by Inshore Piscivorous Fishes in Lake Michigan," Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 101(1):55-63, 1972.
58.
T. A. Edsall, E. H. Brown, Jr., T. G. Yocum, and R. S. C. Wolcott, Jr.,
" Utilization of Alewives by Coho Salmon in Lake Michigan," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ann Arbor, Mich., 29 p.,
1975.
59.
" Harvesting Alewives," Sea Grant '70s, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, p. 7, 1979.
60.
J. Z. Reynolds, " Power Plant Cooling Systems:
Policy Alternatives,"
Science, 207:367-372, 1980.
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