PSU Researcher Finds
Minimal Effects from
Power Plant Discharge
Dumping hot water from
electric power plants into rivers
and lakes is not necessarily an
obvious case of harmful thermal
pollution, a Penn State biologist
has determined.
Dr. Dean Arnold, assistant
professor of biology, studied the
effects of waste heat from five
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electric power plants on Great
Lakes waters bordering the state
of Michigan and couldn’t find any
gross effects directly attributable
to the heat.
A serious environmentalist,
Arnold admits that the results of
his study were “not what we
expected. However, though
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we didn’t find any, there may be
undesirable effects from these
discharges,-more subtle than we
originally thought.”
In the study, water sampling
was carried out at each plant in
the intake and discharge areas as
well as at one or two locations far
enough away to be relatively
unaffected. The researchers
measured temperature,
dissolved oxygen, plant growth,
alkalinity, chlorophyll content,
and various other factors related
to the health and well-being of
living organisms. The differences
in temperature between intake
and discharge areas ranged from
2.8 degrees to almost ten degrees
and the highest water tem
perature recorded in a discharge
area was 85.6 degrees.
Arnold reports, “In general,
there was little variation in
conditions between open lake
stations far from shore and
reference stations near the power
plants, except for temperature.”
However, he cautions, “the
absence of readily identifiable
short-term effects does not mean
that more subtle, long-term ef
fects do not exist which will later
become obvious or serious ”
The data do show, according to
Arnold, that “the location and
design of intakes and discharges
at power plants appear to be
more important in controlling
ecosystem damage than do
temperature levels-at least on
Great Lakes shores.”
The five power plants (one
nuclear, the rest coal
fired) dispose of their waste heat
by circulating lake water through
a cooking condenser to carry
unused heat out of the plant. In
the process, fish and smaller
plants and animals are sucked
through the condenser and
eventually are redeposited in the
lake. Except for fish trapped on
screens at the intake pipe, -Ar
nold says the trip leaves most of
the plants and animals none the
worse for wear. Although, he
adds, “in most cases,
microscopic animals suffered
significant but not great mor
tality and the growth of
microscopic plant populations
was slightly inhibited.” A more
detailed study of the effects on
the fish was not completed.
Despite the fact that he found
none of the electric power plants
doing any obvious damage,
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Arnold doesn’t believe that we
can all relax. Research, he says,
should continue to see if any
cumulative effects result from
several plants on the same body
of water. He notes: “Such effects
may well be much worse than the
effects of a single plant and, of
course, other wastes such as
radioacive materials were not
covered by this study.”
Arnold’s study, sponsored by
the Atomic Energy Commission,
was conducted from May 1971 to
December 1972 while he was a
member of the Great Lakes
Research Division of the
University of Michigan. He
joined the Penn State faculty this
year and also serves as Assistant
Unit Leader of the Pennsylvania
Cooperative Fishery Unit, U. S
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A native of Elmira, New York,
Arnold received the 'bachelor’s
degree from the University of
Rochester and the M S. in fishery
biology and the Ph.D in aquatic
ecology from Cornell University
His current research interests
include lake restoration and
aquatic productivity
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