ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
December 14, 1978
IN THE
MATTER
OF:
PROPOSED DETERMINATION OF
NO SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE FOR
)
PCB 78-61
THE QUAD CITIES GENERATING
STATION
OF COMMONWEALTH EDISON CO.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Dumelle):
On March
8,
1978 Commonwealth Edison Company
(Edison) re-
quested a determination, pursuant to Rule 203(i) (5)
of Chapter
3
of the Board’s Rules and Regulations,
that discharges
from the
Quad Cities Generating Station
(Quad Cities)
have not caused
and cannot be reasonably expected to cause significant ecological
damage to the Mississippi River.
A hearing was held on July
19,
1978 at the Board’s Chicago office.
No members of the public
were present.
Additional material was filed by the Petitioner
on September 29,
1978 following an Interim Order by the Board of
September
7,
1978.
Quad Cities
is a nuclear fueled steam electric generating
plant located at Cordova, Illinois on the Mississippi River.
The
plant consists of
2 reactors with a net generating capacity of
809 megawatts each.
Since October,
1975
a closed cycle cooling
system has been employed most of the time.
This system includes
a spray canal which is fixed with
floating spray modules.
An
open cycle
(once-through)
system is used during periods of high
demand or when local fogging may occur.
During 1972-1976 generat-
ing capacity ranged from 37.0
to 59.5.
Future capacity is
expected to range from
60
to 65.
Both units might be retired
in 2007 with no plans at this time
for additional units.
Shut-
downs longer than one month are usually due to refueling or
scheduled maintenance.
Shorter periods are due to equipment mal-
functions.
Forced outages are expected to occur
10
of the time
in the future with no scheduled periods of complete plant shutdown.
When the closed cycle cooling system is used,
effluent from
the condensers
is cooled in a canal.
The canal is 14,000 feet long,
185 feet wide and
9 feet deep.
Three hundred spray modules are
located
in the canal.
After recirculation, blowdown water
is
discharged through a one thousand foot
4 foot diameter diffuser
pipe in the Mississippi River.
Two larger diffusers
16 feet in
diameter are used during emergencies.
During periods of open cycle cooling and full plant operation,
12 billion BTU’s/hr.
are discharged.
Under these conditions,
32—255
—2—
a
50
F. temperature rise above ambient is limited to a 500
foot,
25 acre area for all river flows.
The only recorded violations
of the Board’s thermal standards occurred when a side jet dis-
charge was used in 1973 and during September,
1976 when river
flows were less than the
7 day,
10 year low flow.
A safe zone
of passage exceeding 75
of the total river is expected to occur
during all flows
in excess of 15,300 cfs.
Biological
studies conducted since
1968 have shown that
Quad Cities has had no significant effect on the water quality or
the aquatic species
in the Mississippi River.
The only time that
periphyton were adversely affected was during the operation of the
side jet discharge which
is no longer in use.
There have been no
adverse effects observed on other animal life or recreation.
Based on the information submitted
in this record,
the Board
concludes that Edison has demonstrated that the discharges from
Quad Cities have not caused and cannot reasonably be expected to
cause significant ecological damage to the Mississippi River.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
It is the Order of the Pollution Control Board that Common-
wealth Edison Company has demonstrated that the discharges
from
the Quad Cities Generating Station have not caused and cannot be
reasonably expected to cause
significant ecological damage to the
Mississippi River.
1, Christan L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board,
hereby certify the above
pinion and Order were
adopted on the
/tj~
day of
_______________,
1978 by
a vote of
.~.-O
Christan L.
Moffe
)
Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
32—256