Cooling tower drift deposition measurement at the ORGDP

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6519890

Park, S H

In a continuing effort to investigate cooling tower drift, droplet and mineral deposition fluxes were measured near the cooling towers at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) from 1979 to 1982. These measurements were conducted at various times of the year to determine any seasonally induced variation in the deposition pattern. The parameters which affected the deposition flux to the greatest degree were the wind speed and the relative humidity of the ambient air. The chromium deposition flux, as measured by collection in Petrie dishes around the cooling tower, displays two distinctly different regimes for the rate of change of flux with distance. In the near field, up to 600 meters, the approximate rate of decrease of the deposition flux is an order of magnitude per 100 meters; beyond this region, the rate is drastically lower. This chromium deposition rate in the near field agrees with the values obtained by the sensitive paper method, in which the mineral flux is determined from the droplet imprints and a known mineral concentration in the drift. Hence, it is hypothesized that the chromium deposition in the near field results from drift droplets whose trajectories are influenced by the gravity force as well as wind speed; whereas, the chromium deposition pattern beyond the near field is formed from particles whose trajectories depend greatly on the wind speed.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 6519890
• Report Number(s): K/PS-5003S; CONF-830411-1; ON: DE83005878
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
AIR POLLUTION
CHROMIUM
COLLOIDS
COOLING TOWERS
DEPOSITION
DIFFUSION
DISPERSIONS
DROPLETS
ELEMENTS
GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
ISOTOPE SEPARATION PLANTS
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ORGDP
PARTICLES
PLUMES
POLLUTION
SOLS
TOWERS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS