Plant to Install System to Limit Fish Kill


October 01, 2025

WATERFORD, Conn. (AP) Northeast Utilities will install a new system at the Millstone reactor designed to save the lives of thousands of fish which are sucked into the plant along with water from Long Island Sound.

Several environmental groups had sued to stop the restart of Millstone 2 earlier this year, claiming the plant was responsible for decimating the Niantic Bay's winter flounder population. A state Superior Court judge in May blamed overfishing and not the plant for the decline and allowed the plant back online.

NU Spokesman Terrence McIntosh denied the move was in response to the lawsuits. The company had been working with Terry Backer, the Long Island soundkeeper, and the state Department of Environmental Protection on the system since 1997, he said.

''It came long before the suits,'' he said. ''It's something we're very excited about.''

Thursday's announcement came after NU learned it had won the proper permits from the DEP and the town of Waterford, McIntosh said.

McIntosh did not have a cost estimate or a timeline for the project, but said construction would begin in the near future.

The new system will funnel the fish out of the intake stream for the plant and return them, unharmed, into the Sound, Backer said. He said that while the measure is a step forward, more must be done to protect larval and juvenile fish that will slip through the new fish return system. ''That will be next on the agenda,'' Backer said.

Fish Unlimited, a Shelter Island, N.Y. environmental group which led the legal battles against Millstone 2's restart, called NU's plan a small concession. The group plans to ask the DEP to require the Millstone power plants be closed during peak spawning seasons of winter flounder and reduce the amount of water it draws from the Sound.

All three Millstone reactors were shut down three years ago due to safety concerns. In the past year, Millstone 2 and 3 gained federal approval to restart. Millstone 1 is being decommissioned.

''Our proposals would allow the flounder and blackfish stocks to begin to rebuild, and to eliminate the carnage now being perpetuated on our waters by Millstone,'' Executive Director Bill Smith said.

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