Off San Clemente, an artificial reef is going up, er, down

[Javaman]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kelp12-2008jun12,0,6812145.story


The structure, financed by Southern California Edison, is designed to help re-grow kelp forests that foster marine life. Kelp has been devastated by the San Onofre nuclear power plant.
By Susannah Rosenblatt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 12, 2008
Rocks bigger than basketballs were pushed into the ocean off San Clemente this week to provide the foundation for a 150-acre reef for giant kelp -- a project scientists say is one of the largest and most advanced in the world.

The artificial reef, to be made from roughly 125,000 tons of volcanic rock, is designed to anchor a swaying kelp forest, attract an array of marine creatures and help counteract the environmental destruction wrought by a nearby nuclear power plant.

SNIP

The effort stems from a 1989 scientific report that found that the cloudy water discharged by the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station's cooling system drifts south, blocking sunlight from a natural kelp bed and damaging about 180 acres of that habitat.

[glowing]

1. Isn't nuclear power grande...NOT