Nine Mile Point Nuclear Energy

[Audio] Hello, I am Walter Grzesik, I am in Environmental Management 501, and my professor is Dr. Jennifer Demchak. Today I will be discussing the benefits of nuclear energy and how it affects the surrounding environment. The power plant that I am focusing on is, Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in upstate New York..

[Audio] How can nuclear energy be beneficial? Isn't it an extremely dangerous power source? While there are potential dangers to nuclear energy, there are heavily regulated safety protocols every employee must follow and enforce. These protocols deal with everything that goes on site, from working on the reactor to how you need pass information to one another. There is regularly scheduled maintenance and fuel replacement to ensure proper operation of the units. If any mechanism causes an issue or a system becomes faulty, emergency measures are put in place while they are getting fixed. The employees have little to worry about when it comes to receiving radiation dosage. People are exposed to more radiation levels in their home or flying than a nuclear station employee. Another benefit that nuclear provides is that it is reliable and cost effective as the energy created provides enough power for millions of homes with low fuel costs. Even with the amount of energy being produced, there is little to zero environmental impact, with emissions and carbon-free electricity..

[Audio] Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station is located in Scriba, a small town just outside the city of Oswego, in the state of New York. As all nuclear sites need a cooling source, Nine Mile was designed and built on the Eastern Coast of Lake Ontario. This site is only five miles from the city of Oswego, and nearly nine miles from my house..

[Audio] Nine Mile Point has two working nuclear units on its site, with unit one being built in April 12th, 1965 and unit two on August 1st, 1975. Unit one only took four years after its construction started for it to be commissioned, while unit two took thirteen years. Part of this reasoning was due to unit two taking longer to finish construction as it was more advanced in design, to include a cooling tower..

[Audio] Nine Mile Point takes pride in the fact that they have the oldest, still commissioned nuclear unit within the United States. Although each unit have different designs, they are both boiling water reactors, meaning that they produce a lot of steam under extreme heat that gets pushed through a turbine to produce the energy. These two units produce enough energy for over two million homes, mostly in New York City. The rough amount of wattage created is just over 1,900 megawatts or 1,900,000,000 watts. That is 190,000,000 light bulbs! Thankfully, due to regular maintenance and advancements within the nuclear field, both unit one and unit two were recommissioned to later dates, exceeding their expected decommissioning dates..

[Audio] Although Nine Mile Point is build on Lake Ontario, it is on a total of nine hundred acres of glacial tilled plains soil. There is an excess of land, so to speak, as there were plans to create a third reactor and for distance from residences. Most of the vegetation that can be found includes, various oak trees, red maples, red osier dogwood, water chestnut, American sycamore and tussock sedge..

[Audio] There is an abundance of animals that can easily be found across these nine hundred acres. These animals would include but are not limited to, white tailed deer, turkey, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds of all kinds. As there has not been any hunting allowed on this property until three years ago when certain populations were causing concern, these animals can be regularly seen..

[Audio] Seeing as Nine Mile Point is located on the Eastern Shore of Lake Ontario, there are plenty of marine life that pass by. With the nuclear reactors taking in cold water to keep cool, it also cycles warmer water out. This attracts any and all fish species to the warmer water. To prevent fish from going into the plant, intake screens are in place to prevent their movement. Brown trout, walleye, and salmon are just a few of the species that have been caught off Nine Mile Points shore when fishing used to be allowed..

[Audio] Invasive species come in all shapes and sizes, and that is no different within Lake Ontario. While goby and sea lamprey are not an issue for Nine Mile, the zebra mussels are very much the opposite. Zebra mussels are favorable to warmer water and tend to clog the intake pipes and screens. If they slow or even stop the water flow, the reactors cannot get the water necessary to cool, which creates the steam to generate energy. These mussels are regularly scrubbed off and treated with biocides to prevent any clogging issues..

[Audio] There are many concerns that get brought up when discussing nuclear energy. Whether it's the obvious of a nuclear meltdown or the third eye fish walking on land, people speculate but for good reason. As there can be disastrous situations, worry will always be in the air. Major issues people continue to worry about are whether it is safe for people to be working in a nuclear site or even be living near them. Regular studies using Diagnostic Reference Level devices are worn by all employees and are places throughout the property. These devices show levels of radiation lesser than someone using a microwave. With that being said, it also means that there is the same or less amount of radiation on the local animal life. This is another concern among the nuclear community as harming the surrounding environment would lead to their decommissioning but also could potentially leave millions of people without power. Another policy concern held by the nuclear site is the amount of emissions and air pollution. If there were carbon emissions or any pollution coming from the nuclear site through the water vapor released through the cooling tower, it would be able to travel for miles and contaminate everywhere in between. Thankfully, with advancements in nuclear, carbon emissions and air pollution are none existent at Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station..

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