Effects of thermal discharge from a nuclear power plant on culturable bacteria at a tropical coastal location in India

I.Field studies were carried out 1 year to understand the distribution of culturable bacteria in the coastal waters in relation to the thermal discharge.II.Laboratory experiments were carried out to determine the effect of the two major stress factors, namely, temperature and chlorine, on bacterial strains isolated from the study site.III.Culturable aerobic heterotrophic bacteria (CAHB) populations at thermally impacted stations were less than those at control stations. However, richer were nitrate-reducing bacteria (NRB) population near the plant discharge, as compared with the control site.IV.Among the three species of bacteria tested, expression of the heat shock protein HSP 70 was evident in Pseudoalteromonas ruthenica (SBT033), but not in Staphylococcus sp. (SBT 120) and Bacillus sp. (SBT 324).