Recently at Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, workers identified that a raccoon had gotten into a place it shouldn't be. With Unit 2 shut down for its refueling and maintenance outage, including work on the Cooling Tower, workers were cleaning up the last of equipment from the Cooling Tower basin when they discovered the raccoon. It was on the suction site of a Circulating Water Pump which was not running at the time, however, with the outage nearly complete the area was scheduled to be filled with water soon.
Workers alerted the site's Environmental Chemist and lead of NMP's Environmental Stewardship Committee, who in accordance with the station's Avian and Wildlife Management procedure, coordinated with several departments on site on a removal plan.
A live trap was set and a ramp put in place to lead the animal directly to the live trap. Then the lights were turned off in the area. The hope was that the dark and quiet and the smell of food in the live trap would draw the animal out.
The food must have smelled good! The raccoon climbed the screen and walked right up the ramp into the live trap. He was removed from the building and released on the property; far from the Cooling Tower!
Excellent teamwork was demonstrated by the employees involved in support of Exelon's Environmental Policy which promotes a corporate culture in which we are accountable to our communities and the environment and in which full compliance with environmental laws and regulations is the minimum level of acceptable performance.
