Analysis on Water Quality Parameters and the Effects of the

Closure of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant

Gianna Brucato, Carol Chugden, Calista Dodaro
26 September 2018

Abstract:
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The Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant, once the oldest running power plant in the United States,
was closed down on September 17, 2018, in Forked River, New Jersey. Due to the recent closure
MATES students from Mr. Werner’s third block Oceanography class visited five sites located
near the plant on September 20, 2018, for the purpose of the shutdown, various water parameters
were tested to determine if there were any possible indf data collection and indications of direct
effects of the closure. In order to examine the effects of locations of thermal pollution. The five
parameters included: water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, and salinity. These
variables are vital indicators of various anthropogenic effects within bodies of water and are used
to determine the effects of thermal pollution. The sites that were sampled started near the Oyster
Creek Power Plant and gradually moved outwards, further from the power plant and into the
Barnegat Bay (Figure 1). It was found that the creek has yet to experience any vast changes
since the shutdown of the plant, and miniscule indications of thermal pollution effects were
shown.

Background:
The Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant, located in Forked River, was the oldest running
nuclear power plant in America before Exelon shut down the reactor this September. The reactor
that this power plant used is classified as a single-unit General Electric boiling water reactor
which produced up to 625 megawatts (America's Oldest 2018). The cooling process in the Oyster
Creek Nuclear Power Plant began by taking in water which then was absorbed by the heat at the
center of the reactor, producing steam. This steam traveled into a condenser and the resulting
water was released back into the bay by the force of electric pumps (Boiling Water Reactors
2015). Throughout the time period that the power plant was in use, the Barnegat Bay was used as
the cooling source for the system, pumping in 662 million gallons of water every day. Another
748 million gallons of water per day, also drawn from the Barnegat Bay, was used to dilute the
heated water before it was released into the bay again (Murray 2010).
The water being suctioned into the plant ultimately harms the wildlife living near the
entry of the millions of gallons of water. Because of the immense intake, free-floating fish eggs,
larvae, and small species are susceptible to the fast flow of water going into the power plant. The
heated discharge can produce thermal pollution, increasing the temperature of the water and
forming ice-free pockets in the winter which traps living species. Fish and species in the
Barnegat Bay are accustomed to one temperature range; the dramatic change of water
temperature caused by the heated water from the power plant could shock and potentially
decrease the body mass of marine life. This rapid increase in temperature could also affect the
conductivity in the bay water because temperature and conductivity have a direct correlation.
Additionally, this water could cause eutrophication, an excess of nutrients, leading to the
suffocation of wildlife caused by an excess growth of plant life. (What’s Wrong 2018). As a
result of increased vegetation, dissolved oxygen levels could decrease, reducing another vital
element to the health of life in the Barnegat Bay. This study uses water quality parameters to
determine the immediate effects of the discontinuation of the Oyster Creek Power Plant.
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Methodology:
Sample Sites:
On September 20, 2018, five sites were sampled from within the outflow of the Oyster
Creek in Forked River, New Jersey (Figure 1). The first four sites were located within the
channel of water outflowing from the Oyster Creek Power Plant, while the fifth site was located
in Forked River.
Procedure:
Using the YSI, students immersed the tool within the water at the surface of the sample
site and collected various parameters. These water quality parameters included temperature (°C),
pH, dissolved oxygen (mg/L), and conductivity (µS/cm). Then, after collecting water from the
surface of each sample site, a refractometer was used to collect data on salinity (ppt).

Results:
The first four sites, located within the Oyster Creek Power Plant channel, show distinct
trends within their water parameters. As the sites grow further away from the power plant, the
temperature of the water drastically increases, overall, going from 22°C to 24.5°C (Figure 2).
Dissolved oxygen between the first three sites stays relatively the same, only changing from 7.02
mg/L to 7.25 mg/L. However, it drops to 5.42 mg/L at site 4 which could be a potential outlier as
it is drastically lower than the other values (Figure 3). The only parameter that does not indicate
any significant change is pH, which hovers between 8.01 to 8.42. Most values within pH stay
between 8 and 8.25, yet site 1 has a pH value of 8.42, which does not indicate any major
difference but could potentially be a slight outlier (Figure 4). Conductivity at Site 1 was
measured at 93720 µS/cm, but dropped to 26209 µS/cm by the second site. The conductivity
ranged highly, but could also be due to the high value collected at site 1. Besides the value from
site 1, the conductivity values remained relatvilvycimilar until it spiked up to 39747 µS/cm at the
fifth site (Figure 5). The salinity increases from 5 ppt at site 1 to 25 ppt at site 5 located in the
Barnegat Bay (Figure 6).

Discussion:
The temperature values had no apparent changes since the closure of the power plant.
The data was collected only three days following the closing, which could be the cause of no
extreme drops in temperature. Even though no major changes were clear, temperature increases
as little as 1 to 3°C can alter communities because they are lethal to some species, can affect
growth and reproduction of others, and can even greatly reduce the number of eggs produced by
some female aquatic insects (Dodds 2010). It is vital to watch the temperatures over time. There
was not a sufficient amount of data to determine if there were any direct effects on the water and
overall thermal pollution of the water. Due to the limitations, it is nearly impossible to determine
whether any changes seen were directly coming from the closure of the plant or the seasonal
changes. Even though water is continuously moving in and out of the channel, it may take
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months to even years for there to be any significant data showing pertinent changes to the
indications of thermal pollution. The temperature values generally stayed within a small range,
with the exception of the outlier at Site 4. The outlier shows a higher temperature than the rest of
the values (Figure 2). Site 4 was located near the mouth of the creek leading into the Barnegat
Bay (Figure 1). This could describe the small peak in temperature as it is nearing a body of
water experiencing warmer temperatures due to the September season. Dissolved oxygen and
temperature have an inverse relationship, meaning as water temperature increases, dissolved
oxygen decreases (Dissolved Oxygen 2013). Due to this relationship DO is an essential water
parameter when looking for signs of thermal pollution. When dissolved oxygen levels in water
decrease to below 5 mg/L, aquatic life is put under stress (Lenntech). All but one of the DO
values collected were approximately 7 mg/L, which is not detrimental to aquatic life but also not
exemplary (Figure 3). The value at Site 4 was alarming, as it neared the recommended DO limit.
This extreme value is aligned with the temperature outlier, as expected due to their correlation.
pH values remained fairly similar, most values ranged between 8 and 8.25, yet at Site 1 the pH
recorded was near 8.5 (Figure 4). This appears to be a potential outlier, but the difference, when
compared to the other values, was less than .25. pH levels also tend to fluctuate daily due to
photosynthesis and respiration in the water and are even more likely to in a moving body of
water, such as the creek (pH of Water 2013). Therefore, the pH in Site 1, regardless of its
appearance in Figure 4, is not a salient outlier, but appears as one due to the increments of the y-
axis. Conductivity and salinity are related as they are both a measure of dissolved ions. A higher
concentration of dissolved salts increases the ability of a solution to conduct an electrical current,
so a high conductivity value indicates a high salinity level (Slinger 2005). Conductivity and
salinity values both increase throughout the sites (Figure 5 & Figure 6). There is though, a very
clear outlier at Site 1 for conductivity. This could be very possible because of human error. In
order to maintain more accurate data, more samples should have been taken at each site for more
reliable analysis. Refractometers were used to determine salinity values at each site, and because
they are an instrument that only measures a single parameter they are more accurate and reliable.
Conductivity and salinity both experienced an increase in trend due to the location of the sites
nearing the Barnegat Bay (Figure 1).
There were several outliers throughout the data analysis. In order to prevent outliers in
future data collection, it is recommended that more samples of each parameter are taken at each
location. Doing this can reduce the amount of outliers in data caused by human error. Data can
also be collected using different instruments to maintain accurate results, and reduce the chances
of malfunction in a specific instrument. The data was collected following several days of rainfall
in the area which could have skewed results, affecting the salinity (due to the alkalinity of rain)
and temperature which would, in result, affect other parameters. It is key to collect a sufficient
amount of data over a period of time in order to take into consideration different weather
patterns. There is no hard evidence relating the data results to thermal pollution as a wider
variety of data collection over a longer time period would have been needed to conclude that, yet
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small indicators can show possible, but not definite effects from the shutdown of the Oyster
Creek Nuclear Power Plant.

Figures:

Figure 1: Map of the five sites, including Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, where
samples were collected on September 20, 2018 in Forked River, NJ. The five location sites
were marked using decimal degrees. The coordinates A corresponding map key is located to
the left of the map.
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Figure 2: Temperature data collected at each site in Celsius using the YSI.

Figure 3: Dissolved Oxygen data collected at each site in mg/L using the
YSI. Outlier is shown at Site 4 with a dramatic decrease in DO when
compared to other sites.
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Figure 4: pH data collected at each site using the YSI. Potential outlier is
shown at Site 1 with a slightly higher pH when compared to other sites.

Figure 5: Conductivity data collected at each site in μS/cm using the YSI.
Outlier is seen at Site 1 with a high conductivity value when compared to other
sites.
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Figure 6: Salinity data collected at each site in ppt using the refractometer.
Salinity data has a constant trend and increases as the sites further from the
location of the Oyster Creek Power Plant and near the Barnegat Bay.

Tables:

Sites Temperature (°C) DO (mg/L) pH Conductivity (μS/cm) Salinity (ppt)

1 22 7.02 8.42 93720 5

2 22.7 7.13 8.01 26209 11

3 23.3 7.25 8.1 25466 15
4 24.5 5.42 8.07 32838 18
5 23.7 6.98 8.22 39747 25

Table 1: Displays all the water quality parameters taken at each site.
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Sites Coordinates (DD)

1 39.8102 N -74.1861 W
2 39.8097 N -74.1824 W
3 39.8095 N -74.1788 W
4 39.8111 N -74.1710 W
5 39.8089 N -74.1641 W

Table 2: Coordinates in decimal

degrees for the sampling sites.

Acknowledgements:
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Thank you to Mr. Werner and the captain of the Sirenia for bringing the MATES students
on the boat to sample and collect data. Thank you to the students for helping in the collection of
the data. Finally, thank you to MATES for providing the necessary equipment in order to
perform these tests.

Works Cited:
Dissolved Oxygen. Retrieved from https://www.fondriest.com/environmental-
measurements/parameters/water-quality/dissolved-oxygen/

Dodds, W. K., & Whiles, M. R. (2010). U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA -
Independent Statistics and Analysis. Retrieved from
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37055

Fact Sheet 14 - What's Wrong With Power Plants? (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.clearwater.org/news/powerplants.html

Johnson, S. (2018, September 14). U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA -

Independent Statistics and Analysis. Retrieved from
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37055

NJDEP-Barnegat Bay. (2018, August). Retrieved from

https://www.nj.gov/dep/barnegatbay/plan-oystercreek.htm

PH of Water. (2013, November 19). Retrieved from

https://www.fondriest.com/environmental-measurements/parameters/water-quality/ph/

Slinger, D. (2005, January 01). How salinity is measured. Retrieved from

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/soils/salinity/general-information/measuring

Water Treatment Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.lenntech.com/why_the_oxygen_dissolved_is_important.htm