Modernizing thermal discharge assessments for the 21st century.

Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management
Lawrence W Barnthouse, Charles C Coutant

Abstract

A jointly prepared, interagency (US Environmental Protection Agency [USEPA] and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission [USNRC]), §316(a) Technical Guidance Manual has been the primary guide to ecological studies of thermal discharges at power plants since 1977. It reflected contemporary ecological theory, which assumed that undisturbed populations and ecosystems possessed a balanced and relatively unchanging structure and function that could be disrupted by addition of heat from a thermal discharge. It was intended primarily to facilitate the licensing of proposed nuclear power plants and thus focused on predictive assessments. Since 1977, however, scientific and regulatory contexts of §316(a) assessments have changed. Ecologists abandoned the notion of "balance" in populations and ecosystems and now recognize that natural systems are always changing spatially and temporally. Regulatory emphasis has shifted from predictive assessments at new plants, largely based on thermal-tolerance laboratory data, to retrospective assessments based on field data at operating plants. We suggest updates to thermal-assessment studies based on modern ecological theory and recent thermal-assessment practice. The concepts we outline are fully consis...Continue Reading

References

Oct 12, 2001·Nature·M SchefferB Walker
Aug 1, 1993·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·M SchefferE Jeppesen
May 28, 2019·Science·Sean R BrennanDiego P Fernandez

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