Millstone makes deal with environmental groups

Two environmental groups say they have reached an agreement with the state and the Millstone nuclear power complex in Waterford to speed up plans to reduce the plant's effect on Long Island Sound.

At issue is whether Millstone will install a water recycling system that would reduce the amount of water the plant pulls out of Long Island Sound to cool its reactors.

The Connecticut Fund for the Environment says Millstone now pumps more than 2 billion gallons out of the sound every day in a process that kills billions of fish and other sea creatures. The group says a recycling system would reduce the fish kill by up to 98 percent.

Millstone, the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Soundkeeper Incorporated and the state agreed Monday to speed up the process for updating Millstone's water discharge permit. Environmental activists say the deal will reduce what could have been a 15-year process to three years.