From a cursory google, it doesn't seem that water cooling is closed-loop: > Direct or once-through wet cooling > If a coal or nuclear plant is next to a large

From a cursory google, it doesn't seem that water cooling is closed-loop: > Direct or once-through wet cooling > If a coal or nuclear plant is next to a large volume of water (big river, lake or sea), cooling can be achieved by simply running water through the plant and discharging it at a slightly higher temperature. > Recirculating or indirect wet cooling > Where a power plant does not have abundant water, it can discharge surplus heat to the air using recirculating water systems which mostly use the physics of evaporation. > Cooling towers with recirculating water are a common visual feature of power plants, often seen with condensed water vapour plumes. Sometimes in a cool climate it is possible to use simply a pond, from which hot water evaporates. > Dry cooling > As the name suggests, this relies on air as the medium of heat transfer, rather than evaporation from the condenser circuit https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/cooling-power-plants.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-fu...