ML19327B834
| ML19327B834 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Fort Saint Vrain  |
| Issue date: | 10/31/1989 |
| From: | Keammerer D, Keammerer W KEAMMERER ECOLOGICAL CONSULTANTS, INC. |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19327B833 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8911140028 | |
| Download: ML19327B834 (12) | |
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EVALUATION OF Tli E EFFECT OF
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.' SALT DRIFT FROM COOLING TOWERS iI ON CROPS AND NATTVE VEGETATION
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AT TIIE FORT ST. VRAIN I NUCLEAR OENERATING STATION I
I Prepared fort Public Service Company of Colorado Denver, Colorado
. I October, 1989 I Prepared by:
Warren R. Keammerer, Ph.D.
Deborah B. Keammerer, M.A.
I~ Keammerer Ecological Consultants. Inc.
5858 Woodbourne Hollow Road l'l l5 Boulder, Colorado 80301 (303) 530-1783 l
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, EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF !
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SALT DRIFT FROM COOLING TOWERS Ie .
ON CROPS AND NATIVE VEGETATION I AT THE FORT ST. VRAIN l
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i NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION ;
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I Prepared for:
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Public Service Company of Colorado Denver, Colorado
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8 October, 1989 I ;
Prepared by:
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I Warren R. Keammerer Ph.D. .
Deborah D. Keammerer, M.A. '
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Xeammerer Ecological Consultants. Inc.
t 3 5858 Woodbourne Hollow Road i
g Boulder. Colorado 80301
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i (303) 530-1783 I i I
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TABLE OF CONTENTS .
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INTRODUCTION................................................... 1
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METH0DS..................-................................,.... 1 Aerial Photographs....................... ............. 2 )
I Field Survey............................................. 2 Area Map................................................. 2
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l RESULTS AND DISCUSSION......................................... 3 I- Site Description. 4
................... .................. 3 Color Infrared Photography............................... 4 )
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Evaluation of Salt Drift Induced Stress.................. 4 i Cropland........................................... 4 '
Native Vegetation.................................. 5 J
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SUMMARY
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I LITERATURE CITED........................................... ... 7 5 i
ADDENDUM....................................................... 8 l l
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INTRODUCTION I One of the operating requirements of the Port St. Vrain Nucler.r
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i Generatjng Station is to conduct an aerial remote sensing program to f evaluate un/ possible effects that the facility may be having n surrounding croplands and native vegetation. Fort St. Vrain Non-Radiological Technical Specification 4.2 Aerial Remote _ Sensing requires I that " Aerial photographic monitoring shall be conducted during the i
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August / September period af ter the station has operated at a capacity
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factor of greater than 50 percent during the months of May, June, July and the portions of August and September prior to the photographic '
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date." For the Fort St. Vrain Generating Station, these conditions were first met during the 1989 growing season. The photographic date was August 8, 1989 and the plant capacity factor from May 1, 1989 to August 8, 1989 was 58.3 percent, which meets Fort St. Vrain Non-Radiological Technical Specification 4.2 requirements, i
I The purpose of the remote sensing survey was to determine if any damage to vegetation related to cooling tower drift dispersions within a i
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two kilometer radius of the cooling towers could be observed. The remote sensing study was based on the evaluation of color infrared -
aerial photographs taken of the site at the time of peak growth by the I major crops in the area (corn).
METHODS The technical approach to the remote sensing survey focused on a combination of an aerial photographic survey of the site and on-the-I ,
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ground evaluntion of croplands and native vegetation within a two I kilometer radius of the generating station.
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Aerial Photographe. Aerial color infrared photographs I (transparencies and positive prints) were obtained of the site using a
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fixed wing aircraft, photographs were taken between 11:16 and 11:45 AM (Mountain Daylight Time) on August 8, 1989. Fhoto coverage included the area within a two kilometer radius of the site as well as an additional s
approximate one kilometer buffer. In all, approximately 25 square i kilometers were included in the photo survey. Sufficient f50tographs '
were taken to provide 60 percent end overlap and 30 parcent side overlap on the individual flight lines. The buffer areas were included as i
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control areas that were used for comparative purposes. The date of the
flight in early August was chosen to correspond with the time of peak ;
I growth for the crops growing in the study area.
Field Survel.
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An initial field survey was conducted prior to the .
3 aerial photographic survey in order to determine when the best time for g ,
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obtaining the photographs would be. Additional observations were made ,
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at the time of the aerial survey in early August, and subsequent trips l
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were made to the area once a preliminary evaluation of the aerial I photographs had been completed.
s Area Map. In order to assist with the interpretation of the
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aerial photographs, a vegetation map of the area was prepared (Plate 1).
I The map portrays the different types of crops growing in the area and shows the extent of native vegetation. The map was used to assure that the comparisons that were made among different fields were based en the
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same crops, that is, bean fields were not compared with corn fields. )
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The map was prepared at a scale of 1:6000 (1 inch = 500 feet) using a
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B combination of air photo interpretation and field checking. The final l {
map was drr.fted on a black and white photo mylar base. This base map is i
at the same scale as the color infrared photographs. ;
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION l l
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Site Description l I i
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The Fort St. Vrain nuclear generating station is located in a
- I rural area near the small 63 stern Colorado town of Platteville. The !
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- area included within a two-kilometer radius of the power plant, which l formed the extent of the study area, consists of upland areas that are
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primarily agricultural lands used for the production of irrigated corn,
! beans, irrigated alfalfa, sugar beets and onions. Small grain crops are I grown on only a small portion of the area. The study area is crossed by ,
both St. Vrain Creek and the South Platte River. The river valleys j support stands of cottonwood forests and open rangelands that are used )
as grazing lands. There are also some native rangelands on the upland !
l l portions of the area, however most of the upland areas are used as )
irrigated crepland. The distribution and extent of croplands, native
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vegetation and rangelands, and disturbed areas are shown on plate 1 (pocket at end of report).
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gg Color Infrared Photography The basic theory behind the use of color infrared photography to evaluate cooling tower drif t dispersions is centered in the way that i 1I healthy vesletation appears in color infrared photographs. Healthy, t
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actively growing plants appear bright red on color infrared photographs.
If plar.ts are physfologically stressed, they appear at lessec
- Intensities of red. Colors range from red to light red to pink to
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almost white as stress conditions increase (Knipling 1969 Shipley et i i
al. 1980).
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t Salt drift from cooling towers can cause p:1ysiological stress, in ,
plants when the concentrations of deposited salts become high enough, !
If this occurs, then these stressed plants would show as light red, pink or white on color infrared film. Also, it would be expected that as the I distance from cooling tower increases, the effect of salt deposition would decrease, thereby producing a color gradient ranging from pink to light red, red and brilliant red. ?
Evaluation of Salt Drift Induced Stress ,
Croplund. At the Tort St. Vrain site, there was no evidence of l
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stressed cropland vegetation related to salt drif t even in the fields immediately adjccent to the gener-ting facility. Nearly al) of the fields in the immediate vicinity of the facility were planted in corn, thereby providing a uniform surface for evaluation. Limited evidence of ,
scattered moisture stress could be noted in the corn fields, however these areas of stress were related to inequalities in the irrigation !
patterns. Most of the areas within the fields appeared as brilliant red 1
l B i b on the color infrared photographs. There was no cattern to the areas of stress that could be related to salt drift. Llaually the as a s of stress f
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occutred as small patches at the edges of fields or in areas where too l i much water had accumulated or areas that had not received enough water.
Other crops grown in the vicinity of the Fort St. Vrain generating
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facility include beans, irrigated hay, sugar brets, onions and small !
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l i grains. Fields of these crops tend to be scattered and located at greater distances from the facility. None of the fields of these crops i showed salt drift related stress.
1 Native Venetation. Most of the native vegetation within the study area occurs along St. Vrain Creek and the South P3atte River. These !
areas support forested stands dominated b - plains cottonwood (Populus
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I s1 mentfil. A few isolated trees on the f 200dplains of these streams l l
showed evidence of stress, however no patterns related to salt drift i t
could be seen. Also, a single isolated cottonwood tree located just i l outside the plant boundary northeast of the cooling towers showed some [
evidence of damage. The lower portions of part of the crown had leaves l
that had interveinal damage with some of the leaves being brown and dry.
I It is possible that this damage had occurred from herbicide drif t or some other cause rather than salt drift from the cooling towers, if the l damage was related to salt drift, the tendency would have been for the tree crown to be more uniformly affected, and the damage would not have
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SUMMARY
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'l Color infrared photographs of the Fort St. Vrain stud / area were l
l used to evaluate the influence of cooling tower drift dispersions, f
Field checking was implemented to augment interpretation of the air .
I photos. On the basis of the air photos and the field checking, no I
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patterns of damage to croplands or native vegetation were noted that j could be attributed to the influence of salt drift from the cooling l towers. Some evidence of stress was noted in the irrigated croplands,
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however these appeared to be related to inequalit.ies in irrigation ;
I e2ther than being related to salt drift.
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i Widely scattered evidence of stress in native trees within the j study area appear to be related to natural processes or possibly drif t (
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from herbicide applications rather than from salt drift. This conclusion was based on the fact that no clear pattern could be seen in !
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e the stressed trees t. hat could be related to salt drift from the cooling i
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LITERATURE CITED I Knapling. E. B. 1969. Leaf reflectance and image formation on color infrared film, pp. 17-29. IN: P. L. Johnson. Remote sensing in ecology. University of Georgia Press. Athens. 244 pp.
Shipley. B. L., S. B. Pahwa, M. D. Thompson and R. B. Lantz. 1980.
I Remote sensing for detection and monitoring of salt stress on :
vegetation: evaluation and guidelines. Technical Report
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I NUREG-CR-12?1.
D. C. b2 pp.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Washington, l
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I I ADDENDUM l
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One set of color infrared transparencies is included with this I report. These have treen submitted as supporting data for the report, f
I The photographs were taken along six north-south flightlines.
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l Each flightline had ten or eleven photographs. The photo coverage i
begins in the northwent corner of the study area with line 1, photo 1:
I the photo coverage ends in the southeast corner with line 6, photo 11.
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There are 64 individual photographs in the photo set.
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