Evaluation of an Angled Intake Structure at a Once-Through Cooled Power Plant

The Belle River Power Plant (BRPP) is a 1270 MW, two-unit, base-load, coal-fired facility located on the west side of the St. Clair River approximately 46 miles north of Detroit in St. Clair County, MI.  The plant utilizes a once-through cooling water system with a shoreline intake structure. The design of the cooling water intake structure was based on a review of available fish protection technologies at facilities located on flowing water and on hydraulic modeling studies with the objective of minimizing fish entrapment. Features include an intake structure angled 20 degrees relative to the river flow, flush mounted traveling screens to eliminate embayments, guide vanes to enhance parallel water flow and a design approach velocity of 15.2 cm/s. Impingement and entrainment sampling was conducted in 2005-2006 at BRPP and at an adjacent facility that could be considered a calculation baseline facility (CBF) per USEPA 316(b) Phase II Rule criteria. In comparing the sampling results at the two facilities there were reductions in fish impingement of 96.9% in total number and 99.4% in total biomass at BRPP when compared with the CBF. In terms of impingement density (number per unit volume of water pumped by plant) the reduction was 97.7%. Total entrainment of larval and juvenile fish showed a 96.4% reduction at BRPP when compared with the CBF. In terms of larval and juvenile density the reduction was 97.8%. These reductions in impingement and entrainment exceed the performance standards identified in the 2004 316(b) Phase II rule.