Background: Kalpakkam coastal area serves as fishing ground, influenced by anthropogenic effluents from its surrounding populations and backwaters. Methods: The monthly abundance and distribution of zooplankton and some physico-chemical parameters were investigated in coastal waters near a nuclear power plant, Kalpakkam 2011. Zooplankton and surface water samples collected from three different locations (stations P1, P2 and P3) in the heated and non-heated parts of the coastal waters were analyzed using standard methods. Results: Among all plankton genera in the cooling water, zooplankton was observed most sensitive group to entrainment-induced stress. Thirty genera were identified over the period of the investigation. Zooplankton population followed a trend as P1 > P3 > P2. A clear monthly variation and slight differences among stations were observed in terms of the zooplankton genera. The investigations revealed that changes in zooplankton genera across water bodies could be associated with differing temperature. Conclusion: Our results clearly demonstrate that heated water discharge from the Madras Atomic Power Station has a negligible effect on zooplankton population at engineered canal near Plutonium Recycle Project (station P2). There is no impact on zooplankton population due to thermal effluent discharge into the coastal area (stations P1 and P3). Hence, further investigation is required to estimate the impact zone at either side during different seasons.
Coastal temperature is an important indicator of water quality, particularly in regions where delicate ecosystems sensitive to water temperature are present. Remote sensing methods are highly reliable for assessing the thermal dispersion. The plume dispersion from the thermal outfall of the nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam, on the southeast coast of India, was investigated from March to December 2011 using thermal infrared images along with field measurements. The absolute temperature as provided by the thermal infrared (TIR) images is used in the Arc GIS environment for generating a spatial pattern of the plume movement. Good correlation of the temperature measured by the TIR camera with the field data (r(2) = 0.89) make it a reliable method for the thermal monitoring of the power plant effluents. The study portrays that the remote sensing technique provides an effective means of monitoring the thermal distribution pattern in coastal waters.
Sediments from Kalpakkam in the southeast coast of India were analyzed to characterize heavy mineral distribution. The mineral deposits are fine-grained in nature, and temporal and spatial variations are observed in mineral deposits. Iron mineral peaks observed indicate that hematite is present in the samples. The abundance of iron-based minerals explains the occurrence of black grains in the beaches of Sadras and Kokillamedu. In the rest of the region, the mineral distribution is found to be poor and patchy. Uranium-based radioactive minerals are present in the study area, viz., Uranmicrolite, Dessauite, Dumontite, and Sedovite. The common light minerals are quartz and caminite and the heavy minerals that are not iron-rich are tungusite, charoite, glagolevite, mangazeite, falkmanite, augelite, and struvite. Heavy minerals concentrated in the intertidal tide zone show well-developed swash marks by their typical alignment during the process of swash and backwash. Caminite is formed due to the reaction of seawater with hydrothermal fluids in a midoceanic ridge; its presence in the beach indicates the extent of onshore-offshore sediment transport. The heavy mineral distribution pattern along the Kalpakkam-Mahabalipuram stretch reveals the influence of energy conditions and energy fluctuations that are capable of transporting high-density minerals.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.