Atmospheric impacts of evaporative cooling systems

Technical Report · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7132166· OSTI ID:7132166

Carson, J E

The report summarizes available information on the effects of various power plant cooling systems on the atmosphere. While evaporative cooling systems sharply reduce the biological impacts of thermal discharges in water bodies, they create (at least, for heat-release rates comparable to those of two-unit nuclear generating stations) atmospheric changes. For an isolated site such as required for a nuclear power plant, these changes are rather small and local, and usually environmentally acceptable. However, one cannot say with certainty that these effects will remain small as the number of reactors on a given site increases. There must exist a critical heat load for a specific site which, if exceeded, can create its own weather patterns, and thus create inadvertent weather changes such as rain and snow, severe thunderstorms, and tornadoes. Because proven mathematical models are not available, it is not now possible to forecast precisely the extent and frequency of the atmospheric effects of a particular heat-dissipation system at a particular site. Field research on many aspects of cooling system operation is needed in order to document and quantify the actual atmospheric changes caused by a given cooling system and to provide the data needed to develop and verify mathematical and physical models. The more important topics requiring field study are plume rise, fogging and icing (from certain systems), drift emission and deposition rates, chemical interactions, cloud and precipitation formation and critical heat-release rates.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 7132166
• Report Number(s): ANL/ES-53; TRN: 77-004301
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
COOLING SYSTEMS
THERMAL EFFLUENTS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
THERMAL POLLUTION
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COOLING TOWERS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
OPEN-CYCLE COOLING SYSTEMS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
POLLUTION
POWER PLANTS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
220503* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Environmental Aspects- Chemical & Thermal Effluents
500400 - Environment
Atmospheric- Thermal Effluents Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
200101 - Fossil-Fueled Power Plants- Cooling & Heat Transfer Equipment & Systems