Wetland restoration and compliance issues on the Savannah River site
- Savannah River Ecology Lab., Aiken, SC (United States)
Operation of the nuclear production reactors on the Savannah River Site has faced potential conflicts with wetland regulations on several occasions. This paper provides two examples in which regulatory compliance and restoration research have been meshed, providing both compliance and better knowledge to aid future regulatory needs. The decision to restart the L reactor required the mitigation of thermal effluents under Sec. 316 of the Clean Water Act. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, permit for the selected mitigation alternative, a 405-ha once-through cooling reservoir, required the establishment of a balanced biological community (BBC) within the lake. To promote the development of a BBC, the reservoir was seeded with water from an existing BBC (Par Pond) and stocked with fish and had artificial reefs constructed. The US Department of Energy (DOE) also requested that the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory establish littoral/wetland vegetation along the shoreline to provide aquatic and wildlife habitat, shoreline stabilization, and a good faith effort toward the establishment of a BBC. The development of wetland vegetation was deemed important to the successful development of a BBC within L Lake. However, in a similar cooling reservoir system constructed in 1957 (Par Pond), wetland vegetation successfully developed without any planting effort. Other than the good faith effort toward a BBC, there is no reason to assume a littoral/wetland community would not develop of its own accord. However, research conducted at L Lake indicates that the planting of wetland vegetation at L Lake accelerated the process of natural selection over that of areas that were not planted.
- OSTI ID:
- 5800199
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-930601-; CODEN: TANSAO
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 68; Conference: American Nuclear Society (ANS) annual meeting, San Diego, CA (United States), 20-24 Jun 1993; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Multidisciplinary benefits from biomonitoring studies of cooling reservoirs
Remediation of a large contaminated reactor cooling reservoir: Resolving and environmental/regulatory paradox
Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
L REACTOR
REACTOR START-UP
THERMAL EFFLUENTS
WETLANDS
BIOLOGICAL RECOVERY
COMPLIANCE
POLLUTION REGULATIONS
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SPECIAL PRODUCTION REACTORS
WATER
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
ECOSYSTEMS
HEAVY WATER MODERATED REACTORS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OPERATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PRODUCTION REACTORS
REACTOR OPERATION
REACTORS
REGULATIONS
START-UP
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
220503* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Environmental Aspects- Chemical & Thermal Effluents
540340 - Environment
Aquatic- Thermal Effluents Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
220600 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors