Document ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0667-0097
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2011-02-15T05:00Z

Site Description Report

Yates Power Plant

	708 Dyer Road

	Newnan, GA 30263

February 11, 2009

Background and Objectives

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of
developing 316(b) cooling water intake structure requirements that
reflect the best technology available (BTA) for minimizing adverse
environmental impact for all existing power plants and manufacturing
facilities. As part of this process, EPA staff is visiting electric
generators and manufacturers to better understand the cooling water
intake structure (CWIS) technologies in use at facilities, including the
site-specific characteristics of each facility and how these affect the
selection and performance of CWIS technologies.  EPA is also visiting
facilities to better understand cooling water use and specific issues or
technologies that can affect 316(b) compliance.  As part of its site
visit to the McDonough Power Plant (McDonough), EPA also collected
information on Georgia Power’s retrofitted recirculating cooling water
system at its Yates Power Plant.

Facility Description

Yates is located on a 2400 acre site in a rural setting along the
Chattahoochee River southwest of Atlanta, Georgia.  The facility opened
five generating units with once-through cooling in the 1950s and added
two generating units with closed-cycle cooling in the 1970s.  Yates is
owned by Georgia Power and operates under NPDES permit GA0001473 which
expires August 31, 2011.

Electricity Generation and Transmission

Yates is a baseload facility that consists of seven coal-fired
generating units with a total generating capacity of 1250 MW.  These
units burn eastern bituminous coal from Appalachia. 

Cooling Water System and Intake Structure

The cooling water intake structures (CWISs) for Yates are located on the
shoreline of the Chattahoochee River.  One structure serves Units 1-5
and a second structure a few hundred feet downstream supplies Units 6&7.
 After Units 1-5 converted to closed-cycle cooling, that intake
structure was outfitted with fine mesh (3mm) Johnson wedgewire screens. 
Facility representatives noted that the wedgewire screens have operated
well so far and that no maintenance has yet been required.  The new
design through-screen velocity is 0.5 feet per second (fps).

As discussed below in Section 6.0, Yates Units 1-5 converted from
once-through cooling to closed-cycle cooling.  Prior to the conversion,
the facility’s design intake flow (DIF) was 691 million gallons per
day (mgd) or 480,000gal/min.  Currently, the facility’s DIF is 57.6
mgd, a 91.6% reduction in design capacity.  Yates Unit 1-5 intake
structure has a total of three intake pumps totaling 15,000 gpm.  The
combined withdrawal for the two intake structures averages about 48 mgd.

Impingement and Entrainment Information

Yates has not conducted any source water characterization or impingement
or entrainment studies.

Cooling Tower Feasibility

Due to problems with thermal discharges (including fish kills), the
facility was forced to curtail electricity generation during extended
heat waves coinciding with drought-induced low river flows.  In 2004,
the facility installed a 40 cell mechanical draft cooling tower (in a
1000 foot long back-to-back arrangement) at a cost of $83 million. 
Facility representatives believe it is currently the largest fiberglass
cooling tower in the United States.  

The cooling towers have drift eliminators, but are not outfitted with
plume abatement or noise control.

Facility representatives stated that, at first glance, Yates may appear
to be an easy site to retrofit closed-cycle cooling, due to the rural
location and the relatively close proximity of the proposed tower site
to the intake and discharge tunnels.  However, a significant amount of
work was involved in converting the facility:

Condenser strengthening: additional materials were added to strengthen
the water box.

Tunnel strengthening: as with McDonough, the condenser piping was not
designed to function as a high-pressure system.  Yates’ circulating
pumps were inside the power block (as opposed to in the screen house);
with a closed-cycle system, the entire circulating system would be
pressurized.  As a result, Yates installed steel piping inside the older
concrete pipes; a labor-intensive process at a significant cost.

Tower basin upgrades: the towers were built in the floodplain of the
river, which required building up the earthen base of the towers an
additional 20-30 feet to protect against flooding damage.  An additional
permit was required for construction in a floodplain, but facility
representatives noted that this permit was not difficult to obtain.

Additional station service lines: the energy required by the new cooling
towers could not be supplied by the existing facility infrastructure.
New electric lines were added from the transmission yard to a control
building for the towers.

Debris Handling

Yates does not have significant problems with debris loading.  The
airburst system for the wedgewire screens appears to be adequate in
addressing any debris concerns.

Repowering/Future Uses

There are currently no plans to expand generating capacity or make other
significant operational changes at Yates.

Cooling Ponds

	

There are no cooling ponds onsite.

Ownership

Yates is owned by an investor-owned company, Georgia Power.  Georgia
Power provides approximately 95% of the electricity in the state, making
them the single largest entity for promoting economic development in the
state.  Their rates are set by the Public Service Commission and any
large expenditures would require approval before being passed along to
consumers.

316(a)

The Yates permit does not contain a thermal variance.  It specifies
temperature limits at the end of a mixing zone consistent with state
water quality standards of 90 degrees F maximum and 5 degrees above the
intake temperature.  

Ash Handling

EPA did not collect any information about ash handling at this site.

Air Emissions Controls

EPA did not collect any information about air controls at this site.

Additional Information

Facility representatives also stated that Yates will be adding a flue
gas desulfurization (FGD) unit in the future, but that this did not
affect the placement of the cooling towers.

Attachment A		Yates Fact Sheet

Attachment A—Yates Fact Sheet

Please see the attached materials.

 Like McDonough, Yates was placed on a four year compliance schedule for
installing the cooling towers.

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