The nation\u2019s oldest active nuclear power plant \u2013 the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS) in Lacey, New Jersey \u2013 opened in 1969. In October 2018, it will shut down a year ahead of schedule. News of the projected closing was welcomed by a team of Montclair State researchers who believe that the plant\u2019s cooling system \u2013 which draws in and releases several billions of gallons of bay water a day \u2013 is responsible for significant changes in the Barnegat Bay ecosystem. The shutdown presents the team with a unique opportunity to assess OCNGS\u2019 impact on the Barnegat Bay Estuary.<\/p>\n
Biology professors Paul Bologna, John Gaynor and Robert Meredith have received an award of $62,942 for the first year of a proposed three-year project from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to study the profound impact OCNGS has had on the community structure of gelatinous zooplankton \u2013 or jellyfish \u2013 in the Barnegat Bay Estuary waters drawn in and released by the plant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to collect incredible data before and after the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant,\u201d says Bologna, who is the project\u2019s lead principal investigator, or PI. \u201cIt\u2019s highly likely that the combined research and efforts will generate information relevant to many different power and industrial plants.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Co-PI Meredith sees it, the project also offers an unprecedented opportunity to conduct \u201ca mini-experiment of global climate change and its potential impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
In early July, Bologna and a team of undergraduate and graduate students began collecting, processing, identifying and measuring samples in the field. Large organisms collected in the bay will be brought back to tanks in his campus lab, where students will continue to count and identify them. Ultimately, these organisms will be compared to those collected after the OCNGS shuts down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to make the most of this opportunity,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is the only chance we get to sample the organisms in the water before the plant closes, so that we can do effective comparative studies once it is decommissioned.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Bologna is overseeing the collection of samples, Gaynor and Meredith are tackling the project from the molecular angle, using DNA analysis to identify any unknown organisms that have been collected. Their efforts, according to Bologna, will essentially \u201cbar code\u201d the bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be isolating and sequencing metagenomic DNA from samples taken from both Oyster Creek and surrounding areas,\u201d Meredith says. \u201cThe metagenomic analysis will target a specific region of DNA from all organisms in the samples, so that they can be identified.\u201d<\/p>\n
The professors look forward to determining the impact of the plant on the bay by discovering \u2013 and pinpointing \u2013 differences between the types of organisms collected before and after the plant shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would expect the area influenced by the warm water discharge from the plant to return to what it was like prior to the plant being built,\u201d says Meredith. \u201cHow long this will take, though, is anyone\u2019s best guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the OCNGS is shut down, and the amount of water that is being drawn into the plant and discharged back into the bay is drastically reduced, Bologna expects that the impact will be seen on everything from crabs and eelgrass to larval fish and jellyfish.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think a lot of jellyfish have been sucked up and killed, which is a good thing,\u201d Bologna says. \u201cWould an unintended consequence of the plant closing be an increase in the jellyfish population? Or have the jellyfish benefited from the extra warm water that is returned to the bay from the plant? We don\u2019t know the answers to these questions yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
While several students are currently working on the project, Bologna projects that all told, as many as eight to 10 undergraduate and graduate students \u2013 including at least one PhD candidate \u2013 will have the opportunity to help the professors determine just how the OCNGS has impacted the Barnegat Bay Estuary ecosystem.<\/p>\n