ML20100C812

Fish Kill Monitoring Rept for Dec 1995

ML20100C812
Person / Time
Site:	Oyster Creek
Issue date:	12/31/1995
From:	Roche M GENERAL PUBLIC UTILITIES CORP.
To:	Jang J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
References
6530-962-852, NUDOCS 9601310243
Download: ML20100C812 (20)

Text

a GPU Nuclear Corporation 5 U 4MClear m'ie;'gr 88 Forked River.New Jersey 08731-0388 609 971-4000 Writer's Direct Dial Number:

6530-962-852 January 18, 1996 Dr. Jason Jang U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region I 475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406

Subject:

Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OONGS)

Docket 50-219 Fish Kill Monitoring Report, December 1995 In accordance with the reporting requirements of Sections 1.1.1 A and 3.5.2 of 4

Appendix B, Environmental Technical Specifications, enclosed is a report of Fish Kill Monitoring at OCNGS.

If you have any questions or require any additional information, please contact Mr. Malcolm Browne of our Environmental Affairs Department at (609) 971-4124.

Very truly yours, Y

bISh Michael B.

Roche Vice President & Director i

Oyster Creek 9601310243 951231 PDR ADOCK 05000219 R

PDR MEB/MBR/jdr Enclosure cc:

Director Bureau of Nuclear Engineering Office of Inspection and Enforcement NJ Dept..s of Environ. Protection U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission CN 411 475 Allendale Road Trenton, NJ 08625 King of Prussia, PA 19406 Director NJ Dept. of Environ. Protection Nuclear Reactor Regulation Division of Fish & Game U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nacote Creek Research Station Washington, DC 20555 P.O. Box 418 Port Republic, NJ 08241 Document Control Desk NJ Dept. of Environ. Protection U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Central Bureau of Regional Enforcement Washington, DC 20555 Div. of Water Res., Enforcement Element State Highway 33 NRC Resident Inspector Hightstown, NJ 08520 OC Nuclear Generating Station 010013 5

GPU Nuclear Corporation is a subsd:ary of Genera' Pubhc Utaties Corporaron 1 \\

J

o 1

FISH KILL MONITORING REPORT FOR DECEMBER 1995 GPU Nuclear Corporation Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station Environmental Affairs Department January 1996

Executive Summarv An automatic and unplanned shutdown of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS) took place at 4:37 a.m. Monday, December 18, 1995 when a faulty temperatum r

control valve resulted in higher than normal tempemtums in the plant's main electrical generator.

Following a 10-day outage during which repairs to the valve and other plant components were completed, OCNGS was restarted on Thursday, December 28.

t As a result of the shutdown, the water temperature in the main condenser discharge i

decreased by approximately 20* F, from 56* F to 36' F, in less than 25 minutes. In order to i

document the effects of this thermal shock on the fish in Oyster Creek, a fish sampling program was conducted by GPU Nuclear beginning on December 18, immediately after the shutdown.

]

The results of that monitonag effon indicated that 19 fish representiiig six different species died due to cold-shock shortly after the OCNGS shutdown. Bluefish (n=6) accounted for 32% of the monalities, black dmm (n=5) for 26%, spotted seatrout (n=3) and smooth dogfish (n=3) each accounted for 16%, and weakfish (n=1) and scup (n=1) each accounted for 10%.

In order to determine if any fish sank to the bottom subsequent to their death, bottom trawls were conducted at five locations between US Route 9 and the mouth of Oyster Creek.

No additional dead fish were collected in any of these trawls. Small schools of live Atlantic menhaden and live Atlantic silversides, which appeared to have suffered no ill effects from the j

shutdown, were collected in trawls from residential lagoons adjacent to Oyster Creek. In addition, a school of striped bass was observed swimming normally in the main condenser discharge flow immediately following and during the 48 hour5.555556e-4 days <br />0.0133 hours <br />7.936508e-5 weeks <br />1.8264e-5 months <br /> period subsequent to the shutdown..

.. - _ -...~. -. ~. _ -

A period of exceptionally :old subfreezing weather occurred during December 26th and 27th, over one week after the plant shutdown and prior to the restait of OCNGS on December j

28th. Ambient water temperatures fell rapidly during this period from approximately 34* F on December 26th to less than 30*F on the morning of Deceniber 27th.

During the morning of December 27th, dead and stressed fish began appearing in the i

discharge canal and contiguous residential lagoons. It is believed that the exceptionally low ambient water temperatures (29.9*F) fell below the lower lethal temperature limits for these fish.

f A total of 855 fish were collected by environmental scientists on December 27th and during the following several days. Approximately'72% of the fish collected were striped bass (n=620),

approximately 27% were white perch, and the remaining 1% consisted of American eel and gizzard shad.

l l

All dead fish collected were found floating in Oyster Creek or adjacent residential lagoons, or lodged among rocks along the shoreline of the discharge canal or Oyster Creek. No dead fish were collected in trawls conducted along the bottom of Barnegat Bay immediately offshore of Oyster Creek, nor were any collected while bottom trawling in either the main channel of Oyster Creek or in the residential lagoons.

2

~ _. _ _. _ _ _ _ _

Intn duction P

This report documents the results of aquatic sampling conducted by GPU Nuclear

)

Corporation following the shutdown of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS) on December 18,1995 as well as prior to and subsequent to the restan of OCNGS on December l

l 28th,1995. The major objectives of the sampling program were:

i 1)

To determine the species composition, relative abundance and distribution of i

fishes in Oyster Creek which may have suffemd thermal stress following the OCNGS shutdown, and 2)

To quantify the extent of any fish monalities, i

The monitoring effort took place on December 18,19,20,27 and 28,1995, as well as j

during the week of January 1,1996.

OCNGS, which had operated continuously for the previous 367 days, was operating at full power with four circulating water and two dilution pumps in operation on December 18.

Immediately prior to the shutdown at 0430 hrs that day, the intake temperature was approximately 36' F and the discharge temperature was approximately 56' F (Figures 1 and 2).

i A faulty temperature control valve resulted in higher than normal temperatures in the plant's main electrical generator, which led to the automatic reactor shutdown. As a result of the shutdown, the water temperature in the main condenser discharge decreased by approximately 20' F, from 56* F to 36' F, in less than 25 minutes (Figure 2).

3

Dtiring the outage following the shutdown, the faulty vah.: was repaired and additional required

~

maintenance was performed on systems and components which can only be worked on when the reactor is shut down. OCNGS went back on line producing electricity on December 28th following a 10-day outage.

Post-Shutdown Surveys Post-Shutdown Dipnetting -

Following the plant shutdown in the early morning hours of December L 18th, a few fish became thermally stressed and moved downstream of the OCNGS condenser discharge. These fish were collected by environmental scientists from the discharge canal using dipnets. Dead and severely stressed fish were collected from a small boat and by personnel walking along the discharge canal streambanks, between the OCNGS discharge and the mouth of Oyster Creek.

All fish were identified and enumerated; length ranges were obtained.

A total of 19 dead or stressed fish, representing six species, was collected (Table 1).

Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) and black dmm (Pogonias cromis) accounted for 58 percent of the total; the remaining species were represented by no more than 3 individuals.

t-Post-Shutdown Trawling -

Bottom trawls were conducted at each of three stations in the discharge canal and Barnegat Bay east of the Route 9 bridge as well as within two of the residential lagoons during the afternoon of December 18 (Figure 3). -

Trswling was done for a minimum duration of three minutes with t 4.8 m semiballoon otter 4

i trawl with a 3.9 cm stretch mesh body, a 3.2 cm stretch mesh cod end and a 1.3 cm stretch l

mesh liner. All fish captured were identified and enumerated, length ranges were obtained, and j

the specimens were released. The surface and bottom water temperature'were recorded at each trawl station.

i l

All fish collected in the trawls were alive, exhibited no signs of thermal stress, and were immediately mieased. No fish were captured at Stations T1, T2, and T7 (Table 2). Fifty-two l

live Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) and one live Atlantic menhaden (Brevoonia tyrannus) i were captured at Station T3 (the founh residential lagoon east of Route 9).At Station T5 (the l

second residential lagoon east of Route 9) sixty live Atlantic menhaden approximately 70 mm fork length (FL), and forty-five live Atlantic silversides approximately 50 mm FL were 1

l captured.

i 1

Other Post-Shutdown Observations -

4 A school of striped bass (Monrong saxatilis) was observed swimming normally in the condenser discharge of the OCNGS immediately after the shutdown. Periodic observations during the 48-hour period following the shutdown indicated that these fish survived the thermal shock that occurred on December 18th and remained in the vicinity of the condenser discharge flow.

5

i

- Post-Fish Kill Monitoring of December 27-28.1995 and the week of January 1.J996 9

Following the collection of dead and stressed fish on December 18th which was described i

above, there was no further evidence of stressed or dead fish for over a week as continuing l

maintenance to OCNGS kept the plant shut down. However, a period of exceptionally cold i

weather occurred after Christmas Day and ambient water ' temperatures dropped rapidly from approximately 34' F on December 26 to 29.9* F at 8:00 a.m. on December 27 (Figures 1 and 4). During the morning of December 27th, large numbers of stressed and dead fish began appearing in Oyster Creek downstream of OCNGS.

l i

Post-Fish Kill. Dipnetting -

I Responding to repons that dead and severely stressed fish were appearing in Oyster Creek and adjacent residential lagoons, plant personnel began collecting the fish as soon as possible. The dead and stressed fish were collected with dipnets by environmental scientists i

i operating a small boat as well as walking along the discharge canal streambanks between the OCNGS discharge and the mouth of Oyster Creek. All fish were identified to species and enumerated; length ranges were obtained (Table 3).

The dead and stressed fish were all observed floating at or near the waters surface and i

did not accumulate on the bottom. Even when inadvenently pushed below the surface during the dipnetting effort, the bodies quickly rose back to the surface. The trawl samples collected on December 28th confinned that dead fish did not accumulate on the bottom.

6-i

~.. _ _

j C

The results of the monitoring effort indicated that a total of 855 fish representing fear

]

different species died during this fish kill event. Striped bass (n=620) accounted for over 72 %

l of the mortalities, white perch (Morone americana) (n=229) for nearly 27%,.while American l

' eel _ (Auguilla rostrata) (n=5) plus gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) (n=1) together accounted for about l % (Table 3).

~

)

l The striped bass ranged in length from 296 mm to 758 mm (11.6 to 29.8 in) forklength

.(FL). Mean length of the striped bass based on a random subsample was 524 mm (20.6 in) FL.

The white perch collected during the fish kill ranged from 228 to 361 mm (9.0 to 14.2 in) FL.

The mean length of a representative subsample of the white perch was 292 mm (11.5 in) FL.

l The American eels ranged in total length (TL) from 640 mm to 714 mm (25.2 to 28.1 in). The mean length of all eels collected was 674 mm (26.5 in) TL. The single specimen of gizzard I

shad measured 365 mm (14.4 in) FL.

Post-Fish Kill Trawling -

Bottom trawls were conducted at each of the three stations in the discharge canal east of Route 9, as well as within three of the residential lagoons (Figure 3), during the afternoon of December 28. Trawling was done for a minimum duration of three minutes per station with the same 4.8m semiballoon otter trawl used during th: Dxanber 18,1995 post-shutdown surveys.

No fish, alive or dead were captured in any of the six trawl samples (Table 4) confinning the observation that the dead fish were floating, not accumulating on the bottom. _ _ - -

~.

Discussion and Conclusions.

l The December 18,1995 unplanned, automatic shutdown of the OCNGS resulted in the I

cold-shock mortality of 19 fish representing six different species. These fish, primarily bluefish i

and black drum, were residing in the heated condenser discharge of the OCNGS. The death of these fish following a 20* F drop in discharge water teruperature in less than 25 minutes is consistent with what is known about their thermal tolerances and past observations of cold-shock i

events.

]

The ability of the striped bass and white perch to survive the December 18 cold-shock

)

event is also consistent with the available information on their thermal tolerances. Cold-shock i

l experiments conducted by Ichthyological Associates, Inc. (Jersey Central-Power & Light Company,1978) demonstated that striped bass are able to tolerate extreme temperature shocks.

Striped bass acclimated to temperatures ranging from 44 to 82* F exhibited 100 percent survival 96 hours0.00111 days <br />0.0267 hours <br />1.587302e-4 weeks <br />3.6528e-5 months <br /> after exposure to sudden temperature reductions of 9 to 28* F, down to levels as low as 35*F. Similarly, Texas Instruments (1976) found that adult white perch were able to survive a sudden temperature reduction of 23.4* F, from 59* F to 35.6* F. The temperature conditions in the discharge canal following the December 18 shutdown fell within the range of these experimental conditions and so it is not surprising that these species survived the cold-shock event.

The mortality of the striped bass and white perch,10 days after the December 18 shutdown was apparently caused by the ambient water temperatures dropping below the lower lethal limit for those species.

8-4

Th'e relatively high salinity of the water in the OCNGS intake and discharge canals allows the water temperature to fall below the freezing point during periods of extremely cold weather.

Air temperatures dropped into the low twenties on December 26 and 27, depressing ambient L

water temperatures to extremely low levels. The discharge ' canal temperature dropped from just i

above freezing (32.2* F), at midnight on December 26, to 29.9* F at 8:00 a.m. on December i

r

27. These extremely low ambient water temperatures immediately preceded the appearance of stressed and dead striped bass and white perch on the morning of December 27.

l l'

Cold-shock cxperiments have demonstrated that striped bass can tolerate exposure to 4

water temperatures as low as 32* F for at least a few days but death occurs in a few hours at l

temperatures of 30.2* F or less (Gift and Westman,1971; Public Service Electric and Gas Company,1978). These results indicate that the ambient water temperature in the discharge i

i canal fell below the lower lethal limit for the striped bass on the morning of December 27,

(

resulting in their death. The lower lethal temperature limit for the white perch has not been i

determined. However, given their close taxonomic relationship to the striped bass and the similarity of their responses in cold-shock experiments, it is likely that the white perch mortality was also caused by ambient water temperatures falling below their lower lethal limit.

9

References f

Gift, J. J. and J. R. Westman,1971. Responses of some estuarine fish to increasing thermal gradients. Unpublished Monograph,154pp.

Jersey Central Power and Light Company,1978. Oyster Creek and Forked River Nuclear Generating Stations 316(a) and (b) Demonstration. Jersey Central Power

- and Light Company, Morristown, New Jersey Public Service Electric and Gas Company,1978. Annual environmental operating report (non-radiological). Salem Nuclear Generating Station. Unit 1. Vol.3. Special surveillance and study activities. Public Service Electric and Gas Company, Newark, New Jersey.

Texas Instruments, Inc.,1976. Hudson River ecological study in the area of Indian Point, thermal effects report. Prepared for Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc..

10

Table 1. Number and size of dead and stressed fish dipnetted from Oyster Creek on December 18,1995 following OCNGS shutdown.

SPEC!ES NUMBER LENGTH RANGE MEAN LENGTH (mm)

(mm)

Poaonias cromis black drum 5

210- 290 254 i

Cynoscion nebulosus spotted sea trout 3

435-560 492 Cynoscion reaalis weakfish 1

430 430 Mustetus fdLn.ig smooth dogfish 3

600- 668 629 Pomatomus saltatrix bluefish 6

308-457 401 Stenotomus chrysops scup 1

210 210 TOTAL 19

)

i i

k

i e

Table 2. Results of trawl sampling on December 18,1995 following OCNGS shutdown.

Numbers of individuals captured with typical lengths (millimeters in parentheses) _

indicated for each species.

START STOP TEMP Brevoortia tyrannus Menidia menidia STATION TIME TIME (deg. F)

Atlantic menhaden Atlantic silversides T1 SURFACE 39.2 BOTTOM 1345 1350 39.2 0

0

]

T2 SURFACE 39.2 BOTTOM 1354 1403 39.2 0

0 T3 SURFACE 38.3 BOTTOM 1422 1425 46.0 1 (45) 52 (50)

T5 SURFACE 41.0 BOTTOM 1409 1412 44.9 60 (70) 45 (50)

T7 SURFACE 36.1 BOTTOM 1444 1450 36.0 0

0 NOTE' A!! fish were alive and exhibited no signs of stress when collected.

l i

~

. P r-Table 2. Results of trawl sampling on December 18,1995 following OCNGS shutdown.

Numbers of individuals captured with typical lengths (millimeters in parentheses) indicated for each species.

START STOP TEMP Brevoortia tyrannus Menidia menedia STATION TIME TIME (deg. F)

Atlantic menhaden Atlantic silversides

~

T1 SURFACE 39.2 BOTTOM 1345 1350 39.2 0

i- 0 1

T2 SURFACE 39.2 BOTTOM 1354 1403 39.2 0

0 j

T3 SURFACE 38.3 BOTTOM 1422 1425 46.0 1 (45) 52 (50) l T5 SURFACE 41.0 BOTTOM 1409 1412 44.9 60 (70) 45 (50)

T7 SURFACE 36.1 BOTTOM 1444 1450 36.0 0

0 NOTE All fish were alive and exhibited no signs of stress when collected.

W=

me.

\\

Table 3. Number of dead and stressed fish dipnetted from Oyster Creek on December 27 28,1995 and the week of January 1,1996.

SPECIES NUMBER PERCENT LENGTH RANGE MEAN LENGTH OF CATCH (mm)

(mm)

Anauilla rostrata American eel 5

0.6 640- 714 674 1

Dorosome ceDedienum Dizzard shad 1

0.1 365 365 Morone americana i

white perch 229 26.8 228 - 361 292

}

Morone saxatilis j

striped bass 620 72.5 296 -758 524 TOTAL 855 100

Table 4. Oyster Creek discharge canal and residential lagoon trawl locations and depths at trawl stations, December 28,1995.

START STOP DEPTH STATION TIME TIME (ft)

T1 1404 1410 6.5 T2 1415 1421 13.0 I

l

~

T3 1433 1436 8.8

)

T4 1426 1429 7.5 T6 1453 1456 6.7 T7 1500 1505 8.7 NOTE No fish, alive or dead, were captured in the s!x trawl samples.

4

FIGURE 1 AIR AND YATER TEMPERATURES DURING FISH KILL EVENT 17DEC95 THROUGH 28DEC95 TEMPERATURE IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT 80

=^'

l I

i 1

I

~

50

---

l------------------------------------------------------------------- l----

l l

~

l 1

i

(

pPlant Shutdown e 4:37 AM - 18Dec95 g

i.

Plant On-IJne e 12:58 PM - 28Dec96 I

t I

40

---~--------------------------------------------------------------- -----

l i

i f

i l

Wo

/

30

---

l-1 I

I

.)

1 I

I

\\

l 1

I 20

---

l----------------

- - - - - - -l- - - -

1 I

~IMTAKE TEMP g

g I

-DISCHARGE TEMP I

I I

- AMBIENT AIR TEMP 1

i

~ I I I I

10

FIGURE 2 AIR AND WATER TEMPERATURES DURING FISH KILL EVENT QUARTER-HOUR DATA - DECEMBER 18, 1995 TEMPERATURE IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT SO I

I

{

Plant Shutdown O 4:37 AM 1

~

50

---

J---------

i l'

I I

I I

l 40 ------------) :-----------------------------------------------------------

I E

l N

I 30 I

1 i

E N

1 20

,i,i,i,,ii,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ii,i,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,iiiiiiii,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

i o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

a o

o o

o o

o o

o o,

a.

o o

o o

e e

o o

o o

m n

e

=

w e

o o

a n

o m

n e

o o

o o

e o

o o

o ce ce ce co HOUR

~ Intake Temperature ~ Discharge Temperature ~ Ambient Air Temperatue

1 N

A e>

A s'

ss s :++

'*ss sN

>g

!, ; c ^ s g

' R

^e 'sl.'[;'/' +',

[

s"u C '-

Forked %r j4, s

V,' *,

s s,

,s c

? z','[_' fl -,c se

,el.

Forsesmer -

g-c'(> s y

gesch gwd.

. c3 g s 'g s g'

g c > s

's;;-

c I

i Ng

,~~s' s

, s 1

OCNGS

~+:-

' '~

,s.

Intake Canal

?; x

'<' {

a--

s,','r

'm',,'1:,^

g n + >: ','

s s

,as se v

',,s 4s ll

,^U s

-s s,

g.a.

's o.:

s a,:

s 0000l M* hk,,

)

OC s

s< s s 'J

~',^3 E'

4

/

NGS

,cN^s f

s e

Residential Lagoons

/,2:'f 2

'?~ i y,j;1'@{(g j

g'^$ <'+N

't',

us

...n :x

• e:^ s ',W>

c

~s' is 64 -

hb '>ss.

OdsC

$s iCME e

T l

Tt' c

t w

k b

se

' P,= <5 s e

- s ~s J > n

c s',

O CNGS Discharge Canal Jj dc,1 #

• y g ;',c's L' s'siM x n:~n n :-

L 78 75 T4

' ';; ' d')C+ s:,-

-1', ^ <' if N' s0g e

t s s >

g;'p, sy Q' 't;,gQ'gdt; '

ztt,'\\']<.:j

,,s

&;:n l:~$$'&'? $"'l?i *;;?{'$

Oyster Creek d'+l :'lippend;~'4 '

X T:\\ J %

. ~ MM" * *:" N ".i' * "l 5 I '

Scale 1 I

'^

'::~ ?' J 'p i

c ';' :?

sadws e'O* *"*f 1 mise l

l r.: 3,s M Own 1km s

m #,:"~i < s '^

Figure 3. Location map of OCNGS and trawl stations.

e:

FIGURE 4 AIR AND WATER TEMPERATURES DURING FISH KILL EVENT QUARTER-HOUR DATA - MIDDAY 26DEC95 THROUGH 27DEC95 TEMPERATURE IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT so 1

i so t

t 40 r

t X

-C 3o i

~

20 liIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiIIiiiIiiiiiIiiIIiiiiiIiiIiiIiIIiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII o

a o

o o

o o

o o

o o

a o

o o

o o

o o

a o

o o

o o

i o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o

o o.

m.

m e

e o

e o

o e

e o

o a

n m

n.

o.

o.

a a

w-a a

o o

o o

o o

o o

o HOUR 27DEC95 l

26DEC95

~ Intake Temperature Discharge Temperature ~ Ambient Air Temperatue l

k sem --

.,~w

- +-

-,----+a ew==-

- ~, - - _ - -

m

,-m_-

--