Posted on 05/05/2010 5:26:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Tough new rules imposed by the State Water Board Tuesday would force 19 coastal power plants to begin phasing out their reliance on ocean-water cooling systems — raising the specter of giant towers erected along I-5 to cool the San Onofre nuclear plant.
San Onofre and the other plants, including the AES plant in Huntington Beach, were given deadlines to make technological updates to their cooling system by the Water Board, which voted to approve the new rules late Tuesday. The deadlines are years away — for San Onofre, it’s 2022.
The new rules could force many plants to switch to using cooling towers erected on land.
Southern California Edison officials, who own and operate the San Onofre plant, say that in their case, massive cooling towers would have to be built on the other side of I-5; the rendering above shows fog from the towers rolling across the freeway at night.
...
The board agreed to a three-year study of the two nuclear plants involved — San Onofre and Diablo Canyon — to determine whether they should be subject to different requirements.
The coastal plants rely on ocean water to cool turbines — in the case of San Onofre, to condense steam — pulling in billions of gallons of seawater each day. Along with the water comes billions of marine eggs and larvae and millions of fish; marine mammals, such as sea lions, also are sometimes trapped and killed.
The Water Board is trying to bring California’s coastal power plants in line with the Clean Water Act, which requires the best available technology to protect aquatic life.
Power plant operators have said the new rules will greatly increase their costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedude.freedomblogging.com ...
suck gin and tonic instead..
Yeah. Just hold the heat in.
Best available technology? Not the most cost-effective solution? No wonder we are going to h3ll in a handbasket. We are be driven by a bunch of rules written by folks who haven't a clue.
-PJ
Idiots.
They should simply cool the plants with Unicorn piss, and all will be well again!
I have fing had up to my neck with this crap wtf is going on the people in power are hell bent on destroying this country when will it be time to fight back and i mean fight its gonna happen
I wonder what they’re planning to use instead?
Not really important to a true liberal.
The ‘GReen’ Revolution has a price tag.. a hefty one.
That cooling is not safety related. There is another, backup safety system to cool the plants in accidents.
“The ‘Green’ Revolution has a price tag.. a hefty one,”... our country and our freedom.
Well they changed the rules in FL. This winter hundreds of manatees died of cold temps. The powerplants had to cool the water versus the past. In the past, the manatees headed for waters near the powerplants to keep warm.
Yea we don’t want to get the water from the OCEANS or anything like that.
hook up to the city water, yeaaaa, thats the ticket.
Yea, We need to protect the “aquatic life” because we know that huge input pipe is just to much strain on the aqutic life struggling to make it in our tiny oceans.
“Power plant operators have said the new rules will greatly increase their costs.
Not really important to a true liberal. “
How dare you put a price on feeling good about ourselves!
Besides, we will all share the cost of saving those minnows.
Do you have a problem with that?
I wonder if these people ever heard of fishing trawlers before.
Let’s hope not.
Apparently, there’s a big shortage of ocean water. [/s]
I got a solution, just trap them in the intakes, then I will gather them up, prepare, cook, and distribute to the hungry and unemployed.
It sounds like a delicious problem to me.
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