Page 28 - AT

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 28 october 2019
Shutdown of nuke plant has a surprising stinging consequence

By WAYNE PARRY from the creek to cool the
Associated Press plant, but its former owners
STAFFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. balked, saying that would
(AP) — The shutdown of cost too much. Instead,
one of the nation's oldest they reached an agree-
nuclear power plants last ment with the state to shut
year is having a surprising, the plant down earlier than
stinging consequence for they had intended.
a New Jersey bay consid- So far the increased num-
ered one of the nation's bers of jellyfish are being
most fragile. found mainly in two loca-
The environmental group tions near the former plant,
Save Barnegat Bay held a in the Forked River section
conference Wednesday of Lacey Township, and in
where scientists noted the Toms River.
increase of tiny jellyfish near But scientists say they ex-
the Oyster Creek nuclear pect the sea nettles to ex-
power plant. pand into parts of the bay
The stinging sea nettles that and into other waterways.
had been sucked into the Fish and crab populations
plant and killed by heated could benefit from the shut-
water are now thriving and down, even as species that
multiplying. were drawn to the warmer
The influx has some worry- waters now leave the area.
ing about swimming condi- The plant used an almost
tions in the area, while other This Oct. 17, 2019 photo shows the shoreline of Barnegat Bay in Waretown, N.J., near where the unfathomable amount of
say the plant closure should former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant used to operate. water each day to cool its
begin to restore conditions Associated Press reactors: 1.4 billion gallons,
to where they were before Bilinski said. Now, only 5%
the plant became opera- long, so long that our skin diate effect of the plant that were killed by travel- of that amount circulates
tional in 1969. was all pruned up," said shutdown is the beginning ing through the water as it through the plant, and the
"This is one of the unin- Britta Wenzel, Save Barne- of a return to conditions in surged around the radio- artificial channel connect-
tended consequences" of gat Bay's executive direc- the bay that existed before active parts of the plant, ing the Forked River and
the plant's shutdown, said tor. "My kids had their first the plant went online. picking up heat. the Oyster Creek is almost
Paul Bologna, a professor swimming experiences "Conditions are going back But that same heat that stagnant, "like a lagoon,"
at Montclair State Univer- in the bay, and in a lot of to what they were 50 years killed the fish and crab eggs Bilinski said.
sity known for his research places, you can't do that ago," he said. "It's starting to also did an effective job of That means fish and tur-
on jellyfish. "There are huge anymore." restore an equilibrium." killing tiny jellyfish polyps, tles are no longer being
numbers of them out there The nuclear plant, which Environmentalists had Bologna said. Now, in the trapped up against intake
now, substantially more closed in Sept. 2018, had long sought the closure absence of heated water, grates. But is also means
than we had been seeing been altering conditions in of the plant, arguing that those tiny jellyfish are surviv- that some species of fish
in 2018." the bay for decades, dis- its heated discharge wa- ing and thriving. that had been drawn to
Bologna and others pre- charging water that was ter harmed the bay. They The plant's heated water the warmer waters of the
sented their findings at a 10 degrees hotter than nor- also cited the large num- played a role in its shut- bay have now largely dis-
three-day conference on mal. bers of fish and turtles that down. New Jersey environ- appeared. Several long-
Barnegat Bay organized by Joe Bilinski, research scien- got pinned against suction mental officials had want- term studies are underway
the environmental group. tist with the New Jersey De- grates at the plant's water ed it to build closed-system measuring changes in and
"When I was a kid, we partment of Environmental intake pipes, and the mil- cooling towers to eliminate around the bay after the
played in the bay all day Protection, said the imme- lions of fish and crab eggs the need to draw water plant's shutdown.q

Cleaning plant troubles could lead to hospital tool shortage

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hos- officials said Friday. plies used in heart surgery, FDA acting commissioner other reusable instruments.
pitals could soon face The Food and Drug Ad- knee replacements, C-sec- Ned Sharpless, in a state- Hospitals use various clean-
shortages of critical sur- ministration flagged the is- tions and many other pro- ment, adding that the ing methods, including
gical tools because sev- sue in an online statement cedures. shortages "could compro- heat, steam and radiation.
eral plants that sterilize the to medical professionals, The warning follows the re- mise patient care." But the oxide gas is the only
equipment have been shut saying the result could be cent closure of several ster- The FDA urged hospitals to method for cleaning many
down, government health years of shortages of sup- ilization facilities that use inventory their supplies and devices made from plastic,
ethylene oxide. The gas is alert government officials if metal or glass, according
critical for cleaning medi- they face major shortages. to the FDA. About half of all
cal equipment, but it can The agency said regulators sterilized medical devices
be hazardous at elevated could help identify alterna- in the U.S. are cleaned with
levels and is increasingly tive devices for those im- the gas, according to stud-
being scrutinized by state pacted by the issue. ies cited by the agency.
health and environmental Sterilization is a daily pro- Exposure to dangerous lev-
officials. cess at hospitals and many els of ethylene oxide can
"The impact resulting from other health care facilities, cause cancer including
closure of these and per- used to remove bacte- leukemia and lymphoma ,
haps more facilities will be ria from medical scopes, according to the National
difficult to reverse," said catheters, surgical kits and Institutes of Health. q