Scientists: Artificial reef could make amends for San Onofre's environment

[jpak]

http://nctimes.com/articles/2005/06/28/news/coastal/62705192845.txt

SAN CLEMENTE ---- Like an underwater field of dreams, they built it and the kelp came.

A team of Southern California research biologists last week released their draft report on the success of an experimental test reef built to make amends for the death of giant kelp forests caused by the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

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According to Edison, the plant sucks nearly 2.5 billion gallons of salt water from the Pacific Ocean every day. The water is used to cool the plant's innards before being pumped back into the ocean.

However, when that water is released back into the briny blue, it kicks up a murky plume of sand and other murky material. Reed said studies performed in the 1980s showed that cloudy water means less sunlight reaches kelp. Without enough sunlight, young kelp does not grow.

"It's really affecting the birth rates of new plants rather than killing the mature plants," Reed explained.

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