Oyster Creek Cooling Towers

[ExNuke]

Excellent thread folks!

Just my 2 cents here...

Oyster Creek is probably THE worst and dirtiest plant I worked in. The management running the asylum were idiots and it's amazing they never had an accident. I was an inspector there back in the mid 80's and I swore I would NEVER go back there.

I think I still have some sleazium on me to this day!!

I am enjoying the hell out of this site. Even if I don't ever get back into nukes, I am glad I found it!

Funny, I can look out my back door and see the Limerick cooling towers steaming away. If I had a huge bungee cord, I could slingshot my way to work If I had a job there!

Maybe I should stop and see what they might have in positions.

Again, great thread and I have just begun to enjoy the ride here!

Ex-Nuke

[walstib]

Oysters license contains such language that restricts the time of year that the plant can be shut down to minimize the stress on the fish in the canal.  If I can remember correctly, the time frame for not shutting down is November to April. 

That's partially correct.  I was there for one of their fall outages, and the requirement is they shut down before November so the fish can acclimate to the slowly cooling water temps.  If they aren't shut down before November then they aren't allowed to shut down until the spring when the water temps are rising, otherwise the sudden temperature drop kills off a bunch of fish

[walstib]

If what LM says is only partially correct, would you please explain what he said that is partially incorrect?

I was explaining that the plant can be shut down during the winter months as long as they shut it down before November.  As long as they do it that way the canal temperature isn't such a shock as it cools to equalize with ocean temp and you don't have the fish going to meet their maker.

[Laundry Man]

I was explaining that the plant can be shut down during the winter months as long as they shut it down before November.  As long as they do it that way the canal temperature isn't such a shock as it cools to equalize with ocean temp and you don't have the fish going to meet their maker.

Please explain, they can shut down the plant during the winter months as long as they shut it down by November.  I realize that winter doesn't officially start until December but your logical simply mystifies me.  I stand by my previous post.  I was an Exelon employee there for quite a while.
LM

[walstib]

That is not what you said:

Au contraire, that is exactly what I said.  Try highlighting the rest of the sentence "as long as they shut it down before November."[/b]The plant can be shutdown i.e., offline during the months of November, December, etc (although they try not to) as long as they went offline prior to November.  During the summer months there is not such a step change between the canal temp and the ocean so when the ocean temps start to decline for the winter months the fish are not suddenly shocked and start dying, they have acclimated to the oceans water temp.

[walstib]

Partially correct in that the plant can't shut down from November till April, there he is right.  Incorrect because he doesn't think they can be shut down in the winter months and they can.  As long as they shut down prior to then, so the fish have time to adjust to the oceans temp before the temps start dropping.  

That is the whole basis as to why Oyster creek was told that if they want to have a fall/winter outage they must shutdown prior to November or they're not allowed to shut down.  I was there back in the 90's when that exact situation came up, which is how I learned about all this.

[BetaAnt]

Why not shut shut down in December and have a Christmas to New Years Fish Fry???

Environmentalists are nuts. Warm water attracts non-native species that die-off when the warm water goes away. It returning nature to balance. Solution... install water heaters in the canal to maintain the proper water temperature during shutdown. Bill the customer and explain the reasoning. Have the public complain to the environmentalists.

Or, forgo the heaters and build a cat food factory on the canal. 

What did the EIS state before the plant was built? If the lack of warm water returns the area back to before plant conditions, what's the problem then?

BA 

[JustinHEMI05]

Exelon pulls plug on Oyster.

"NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Exelon Corp (EXC.N) will shut
the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey in 2019,
about 10 years before its license expires, in a deal with the
state allowing the reactor to operate until then without
building expensive cooling towers, the company said in a
release late Wednesday."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0920301820101209

[HydroDave63]

Time for the Eye of Sauron to look greedily towards the west...

[co60slr]

I love politics.  Here we go....

What is the real problem in Great Bay, NJ?   Radioactivity?  Warm water from nuclear plant?   Hmmm....let's see what the EPA finds:

http://water.epa.gov/action/advisories/fishshellfish/fishadvisories/upload/2008_06_05_fish_advisories_archives_nlfa2000.pdf

Oh look...they have PCBs, Dioxins, and Cadmium.   Yum!   Fish/Shellfish with a side of cancer!   Save the PCB saturated fish from the local nuclear power plant!

But wait...the price of electricity isn't high enough in New England yet.  Let's get Excelon to shut down early, so they can buy electricity at a higher premium from nearby co-ops.   It's already costing residents (who are also plagued with a State Budget crisis) about $16.52 kw-hr (i.e., highest in NE).  The Governor can do better than that!   $20/kw-hr?

I wonder how much pollutants clog the cooling system inlet filters.   Any AUO/NLOs from Oyster Creek care to comment?  I think Exelon should charge NJ for cleaning up the mess the best way they can given the circumstances.

Tree huggers with only Liberal Arts degrees that worm their way into authoritative organizations are a detriment to society.
/RANT

Co58

 

[JustinHEMI05]

I spent my karma until late tonight, but yet again, you prove that having an idol to your worship is a good thing. 

[co60slr]

I spent my karma until late tonight, but yet again, you prove that having an idol to your worship is a good thing. 

Nah...sometimes I don't know when to shut up.    Nothing new for me. 

Marssim used to send me a daily private counseling PM (which I appreciated).   I think he's given up though.  LOL

[JustinHEMI05]

Nah...sometimes I don't know when to shut up.    Nothing new for me.  

Marssim used to send me a daily private counseling PM (which I appreciated).   I think he's given up though.  LOL

Considering I sometimes don't know when to shut up, and often challenged my superiors in a not so professional way, I wonder how we would have worked together in the Navy?

Then again, you're competent so I probably wouldn't have had to yell at you much. 

[co60slr]

Then again, you're competent so I probably wouldn't have had to yell at you much.  

When has THAT ever stopped a good nuke?  

Back on subject...do you have your "Save the Cadmium Fish" t-shirts on order?

[JustinHEMI05]

LMAO no I will have to look into that. 

[Broadzilla]

To be quite honest there isn't anyone I've "met" at nukeworker that I don't think I couldn't work with and enjoy doing so.

[Broadzilla]

BTW I'll bet a years salary they won't shut that plant down in 10 years.

[Frankie Love]

BTW I'll bet a years salary they won't shut that plant down in 10 years.

After having been on the "inside" for a number of years, I know Exelon wanted to shut the place down along time ago because of Union difficulties. That was five years ago and before the license renewal.

[Rennhack]

(trust me, I've made a good living off of burying the bones of places "too big to fail"),...

That's what they said about Zion.

And that Iridium (Satellite Telephone) stock I had.

[Broadzilla]

Oyster Creek is a cash cow. 10 years is a long time. Zion had a bad operating record combined wth Union issues. OC is a decent operating plant.