Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has presented the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with a plan intended to “immediately begin the removal of hypersaline water” from the Turkey Point Powder Plant cooling canal system and, the company said, retract an artificial saltwater plume in the canals within the next 10 years.
Using advanced 3-dimensional groundwater modeling developed with the Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM), FPL says that they can demonstrate their scientific approach to the plume problem near the nuclear power plant can be successful.
FPL said in April that it was monitoring a stabilizing of the water quality in the 168-mile cooling canal system. Courts in Florida had ordered the company to improve the water quality after increased levels of tritium had been discovered in Biscayne Bay. Higher than ocean-level norms of salinity was also threatening groundwater in the area, which could be attributed to a hyper-salinity plume moving through the canal system.
The company said it would not use the L-31 canal water this year for its plant operations.
This week, FPL submitted its canal mitigation plan to DERM. The proposal is anticipated to meet the requirements set forth by the county to rectify the salinity issues associated with the cooling canal system. The submission is the culmination of weeks of preliminary meetings with environmental groups, elected officials and members of the public.
With DEP approval, FPL will immediately begin implementation of the plan. The Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) surveys, which are conducted by using helicopters, have enabled scientists from FPL and other organizations to precisely identify the location of groundwater hypersalinity and to develop a detailed plan for its removal.
In addition to its long-term strategy to draw back the saltwater to the boundaries of Turkey Point, FPL will soon begin using brackish water to maintain optimal salinity levels in the cooling canals. This system has state approval from the Siting Board and the DEP.
Although an acknowledged threat, the hyper-salinity issue involving the cooling canal system has not had any adverse impact to drinking water safety or public health to date, the company noted. “There is not now, nor will there be, any lasting adverse impact on Biscayne Bay,” FPL said in a statement. Their long-term solution “will ensure the canals operate sustainably now and for years to come,” FPL added.
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