Limiting Fish Impingement at a Power Plant: Combining a Fish-Friendly Water Intake and a Fish Recovery and Return System

Fish protection at cooling water intake located on estuaries is a crucial issue. This environment has many functions for a wide range of species: path of migration, nursery, feeding ground, etc …The Cordemais, a coal-fired power plant, located on the Loire estuary, undertook a major reflection to limit fish entrainment and impingement at its cooling water intake. The project combines a fish-friendly water intake with a fish recovery and return system (FRRS). Here we present the features of the new cooling water intake designed to prevent the aspiration of aquatic organisms. The performances of the FRRS are discussed in the light of the estuary environmental conditions. The environmental monitoring to test the new structure configuration is also presented.