placed in a 0.333 mm mesh Nitex bag and brought to the surface. Intertidal samples were collected at 

 approximately 0.5 m intervals parallel to the water line at mean low water. 



Samples were brought to the laboratory and fixed with a 10% buffered formalin/rose bengal 

 solution. After a minimum of 48 h, organisms were floated from the sediments onto a 0.5 mm mesh 

 sieve and the float and residue were preserved separately in 70% ethyl alcohol. Organisms were removed 

 under dissecting microscopes, sorted into major groups (annelids, arthropods, molluscs, and others), 

 identified to the lowest possible taxon and counted. Taxa not quantatatively sampled by our methods, 

 (e.g., nematodes, ostracods, copepods, and foraminifera) were not removed from samples. 



A 3.5-cm diameter x 5-cm deep core was taken at the time of infaunal sampling and sediment 

 analysis performed using the dry sieving method (Folk 1974). His method of moments technique was 

 used to calculate the arithmetic mean phi, which was then converted to mean grain size. 



DATA ANALYSES 



This report includes data that were collected from March 1979 through March 1986, the last 

 sampling period prior to commercial operation of Millstone Unit 3. Quarterly results from this period 

 arc presented either on Tables within the text or attached as Appendices. When analyses are based on 

 annual means or annual totals, only data comprising an entire sampling year (e.g., the September, 

 December, March and .Tune quarters) are used. In this report, data collected in March and June 1979, 

 September and December 1985 and March 1986 were not used in analyses involving annual means 

 because they do not constitute an entire sampling year. 



Statistical Modeling 



Multiple regression techniques were used to minimize natural sources of variation and thus improve 

 the sensitivity of analyses designed to identify year to year differences in animal abundance and numbers 

 of species. Data used were log-transformed quarterly mean densities (no. /core) and quarteriy mean 



