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Speaking if which, can anyone explain to me why cooling water is an issue for nuke plants? In areas with less water, can’t a coolant fluid be used with a comp

Speaking if which, can anyone explain to me why cooling water is an issue for nuke plants? In areas with less water, can’t a coolant fluid be used with a compressor and fans powered by the reactor to cool the system down? It would reduce energy yields but my intuition says the energy cost for cooling would be negligible compared to production. Also, can’t coastal water be used for plants near oceans? I just don’t understand how cooling is an issue.

sbilstein 4y ago
A large nuclear power plant may use up to 1 billion gallons of water a day and, for this reason, they are often built next to rivers, lakes or oceans to utilise the bodies of water. The water is drawn from these sources and heated to create steam to power the turbine. It then condenses and can be reused in the power generation process. However, it is eventually pumped back into the body of water it originated from, albeit at very high temperatures. This can increase the temperature of the natural water source by up to 30 degrees, posing risks to the aqua life. from this article: https://monarchpartnership.co.uk/nuclear-power-water-consumption/ https://monarchpartnership.co.uk/nuclear-power-water-consump...
- refurb 4y ago
  The water turned into steam driving turbines doesn't touch the cooling water drawn from rivers. They are closed systems.
  - falcolas 4y ago
    Technically true. But that doesn't stop heat from being transferred between the systems, nor the heat dispersion to the atmosphere or waterways.
spockz 4y ago
You can definitely cool. It is just that it will warm up the water so much it will kill the local wildlife.
acidburnNSA 4y ago
Coastal water works great. Once through cooling from Diablo only kills 800 lbs of adult fish per year. Yes it sucks in fish eggs but the way the anti-nuclear industry phrases it is "it kills 1.5 billion fish in early stages of life" lol. A single tuna fish can make 5 million eggs per year. Away from the coast you can do dry cooling with almost no water, going straight to air. It's just more expensive so it's not done often.
sampo 4y ago
> can anyone explain to me why cooling water is an issue for nuke plants? In retrospect, bad planning. You could build air-cooled power plants, but it's more expensive. https://www.powermag.com/air-cooled-condensers-eliminate-plant-water-use/ https://www.powermag.com/air-cooled-condensers-eliminate-pla... You could build water-cooled systems with extra capacity, so that when the water in the river gets warm in the hot summer months, it would not cause problems for the for the cooling system. But it's more expensive than a capacity that is designed to be just-so.

sbilstein 4y ago

A large nuclear power plant may use up to 1 billion gallons of water a day and, for this reason, they are often built next to rivers, lakes or oceans to utilise the bodies of water. The water is drawn from these sources and heated to create steam to power the turbine. It then condenses and can be reused in the power generation process. However, it is eventually pumped back into the body of water it originated from, albeit at very high temperatures. This can increase the temperature of the natural water source by up to 30 degrees, posing risks to the aqua life. from this article: https://monarchpartnership.co.uk/nuclear-power-water-consumption/ https://monarchpartnership.co.uk/nuclear-power-water-consump...

refurb 4y ago
The water turned into steam driving turbines doesn't touch the cooling water drawn from rivers. They are closed systems.
- falcolas 4y ago
  Technically true. But that doesn't stop heat from being transferred between the systems, nor the heat dispersion to the atmosphere or waterways.

spockz 4y ago

You can definitely cool. It is just that it will warm up the water so much it will kill the local wildlife.

acidburnNSA 4y ago

Coastal water works great. Once through cooling from Diablo only kills 800 lbs of adult fish per year. Yes it sucks in fish eggs but the way the anti-nuclear industry phrases it is "it kills 1.5 billion fish in early stages of life" lol. A single tuna fish can make 5 million eggs per year. Away from the coast you can do dry cooling with almost no water, going straight to air. It's just more expensive so it's not done often.

sampo 4y ago

> can anyone explain to me why cooling water is an issue for nuke plants? In retrospect, bad planning. You could build air-cooled power plants, but it's more expensive. https://www.powermag.com/air-cooled-condensers-eliminate-plant-water-use/ https://www.powermag.com/air-cooled-condensers-eliminate-pla... You could build water-cooled systems with extra capacity, so that when the water in the river gets warm in the hot summer months, it would not cause problems for the for the cooling system. But it's more expensive than a capacity that is designed to be just-so.