About this Research Topic

Background

Under the changing environment of both global climate and human activities, the occurrence of aquatic organism outbreaks has become more and more frequent, causing negative impacts on the sustainability of marine ecosystems and local economic loss. The outbreaks generally indicate serious environmental disturbance and potential regime shifts in the marine ecosystem. They appear to be particularly pronounced in waters adjacent to the nuclear power plant (NPP) and might be related to thermal discharge from the plants’ cooling water. In addition to the ecosystem and economic impacts, the outbreaks can adversely affect the operation safety of NPP. Nevertheless, the processes, mechanisms, potential impact, and prevention and control strategies of Nuclear Power Cooling-water System (NPCS) Disaster-causing Organisms are still far from clear. Meanwhile, more and more nuclear power plants are expected to be built to address renewable energy to combat climate change. Therefore, further studies on this topic are urgently needed.

To achieve the dual goals of healthier aquatic ecosystems and operation safety of NPP, this specific Research Topic dedicates to investigating the outbreak and aggregation processes and mechanisms of aquatic organisms, as well as seeking efficient and practicable early warning monitoring, prevention and control strategies for aquatic organism outbreaks.

The focus of the Research Topic is (on) studies that evaluate the mechanisms, processes, consequences, and prevention strategies of aquatic organism outbreaks adjacent to nuclear power plants in the world.

• The outbreak and aggregation processes of aquatic organisms in NPP adjacent waters.
• The mechanism and driving factors causing aquatic organism outbreak and aggregation.
• The short- and long-term environmental consequences of aquatic organism outbreaks.
• The early warning monitoring, prevention and control strategies for aquatic organisms outbreaks.

Keywords: nuclear power plant (NPP), aquatic organisms, environmental change, outbreak and aggregation mechanisms, early-warning monitoring, prevention and control strategy

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