4 ms·
Don't nuclear plants need vast amounts of water? Australia's kinda lacking that in the middle of the country.
by voidfunc 4y ago
Don't nuclear plants need vast amounts of water? Australia's kinda lacking that in the middle of the country.
- Manuel_D 4y agoAny steam turbine plant needs a cooling system, nuclear or fossil fuel. You don't need potable water, seawater or wastewater can be used for cooling.
- justinator 4y agoI would assume any steam turbine plant needs water for the steam, and that steam is eventually lost through evaporation.
- DaniFong 4y agothe water in steam plants is a closed loop, and the heat is gathered from condensers. the water is cooled via evaporation through a cooling tower
- adgjlsfhk1 4y agoThere's this really cool invention called the bucket. It lets you recapture steam as it re-condenses.
- ars 4y agoNo, they are typically closed cycle, where the steam is reused. You just need to cool the steam with ambient air - water is better (more cooling) but hardly required.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ars 4y agoThat's one way to build them, but it's not the only way. They can be built not to need a lot of water, I assume there are some drawbacks. And it's hardly "vast amounts", it's a small portion of the flow of a small river. A coal plant also works better with a water source - there's no real difference here, you just need something to cool the steam at the end. If coal can work in Australia so can nuclear.
- PeterisP 4y agoThe middle of the country has no need for large quantities of power as almost nobody lives there - almost all Australians live on the coasts near to water.
- duskwuff 4y agoOr, to generalize even further -- the vast majority of Australians live in or around a handful of cities along the southeast coast of the country (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra), or one city on the west coast (Perth). A map of the country's population density may help bring this into perspective: https://i.redd.it/9mw8ttqqu0b41.jpg https://i.redd.it/9mw8ttqqu0b41.jpg
- smcleod 4y agoAlmost all largely populated areas in Australia are coastal.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- gloriana 4y agoNo you don't. At high temperatures, you can use air cooling...