Hey guys, today we're gonna explore a different kind of case study. This study will examine the process water goes through with nuclear fission plants, and primarily we'll explore the consequences of the water discharges back into bodies of water.
First nuclear fission creates lots of energy for our economy, according to ucsusa that amount is nearly 90% of all electricity throughout the United States. Annually the U.S. uses about 4 trillion kilowatt hours. That is a lot of electricity annually throughout the U.S. and nuclear fission plants generate almost 90% of that. Nuclear fission plants are known to use lots of water. The water goes through a primary step in these plants. It begins by the fission, oil, etc heating the water which generates steam that turns a turbine which can be generated into electrical energy from the mechanical energy. The incoming water is used for steam and for cooling of the parts of the reactor. Also, according to ucsusa the amount of water a nuclear power plant can withdraw on a given day can be as high as 800 million gallons a day. That seems extremely high. But, we know that's one reason a large majority of nuclear power plants are built very close to large bodies of water. So, that was a brief, and very basic process of what the water does for the plant. Now our primary focus. What happens when the water is used for cooling? Well most of the time it's placed back into the water. The main concern here is the water can be considerably warmer.
So, it may just be warmer water being discharged back into the river, so what is the issue here? The temperature increase of the water can have serious consequences on life in the water. When the water is warmer the dissolved oxygen in the water has a higher tendency to vaporize. This means that the amount of dissolved oxygen in warmer water is less. With less dissolved oxygen in the water means fish and other aquatic organisms can be harmed significantly! Also, the metabolic rate can be increased for many organisms. The pipes that suction in the water can intake plankton, eggs, larvae, and even trap/harm aquatic organisms. We also know that hypoxic zones are areas where there is little to no dissolved oxygen in the water, and hypoxic zones are found near human activity. I would personally say when nuclear power plants discharge warmer water they can create hypoxic zones in areas of the river. Some plants have adopted cooling methods. Cooling methods that use more water intake to lower the temperature of other water. Also plants can fill large tanks where water can wait to cool down. Then once the water is cooled down it can be returned to the original body of water. This may have other adverse effects say if a body of water has a low volume, then the plant could potentially dry up a body of water.
Overall, dischage of water from nuclear fission plants is a point source, and plants do have a permit to discharge this water that can polluted bodies of water in terms of temperature. I'm not advocating either side. I'm only stating the current issue in this post this week. Personally, I would place my preference on more water storage tanks for water ta have allowed cooled times. This seems like it's a safer approach where there isn't large changes in water temperature. Thanks for reading this week guys! Let me know if you have any comments, suggestions, or ideas for next week post, cheers!
Info: http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/nuclear_power/fact-sheet-water-use.pdf
First nuclear fission creates lots of energy for our economy, according to ucsusa that amount is nearly 90% of all electricity throughout the United States. Annually the U.S. uses about 4 trillion kilowatt hours. That is a lot of electricity annually throughout the U.S. and nuclear fission plants generate almost 90% of that. Nuclear fission plants are known to use lots of water. The water goes through a primary step in these plants. It begins by the fission, oil, etc heating the water which generates steam that turns a turbine which can be generated into electrical energy from the mechanical energy. The incoming water is used for steam and for cooling of the parts of the reactor. Also, according to ucsusa the amount of water a nuclear power plant can withdraw on a given day can be as high as 800 million gallons a day. That seems extremely high. But, we know that's one reason a large majority of nuclear power plants are built very close to large bodies of water. So, that was a brief, and very basic process of what the water does for the plant. Now our primary focus. What happens when the water is used for cooling? Well most of the time it's placed back into the water. The main concern here is the water can be considerably warmer.
So, it may just be warmer water being discharged back into the river, so what is the issue here? The temperature increase of the water can have serious consequences on life in the water. When the water is warmer the dissolved oxygen in the water has a higher tendency to vaporize. This means that the amount of dissolved oxygen in warmer water is less. With less dissolved oxygen in the water means fish and other aquatic organisms can be harmed significantly! Also, the metabolic rate can be increased for many organisms. The pipes that suction in the water can intake plankton, eggs, larvae, and even trap/harm aquatic organisms. We also know that hypoxic zones are areas where there is little to no dissolved oxygen in the water, and hypoxic zones are found near human activity. I would personally say when nuclear power plants discharge warmer water they can create hypoxic zones in areas of the river. Some plants have adopted cooling methods. Cooling methods that use more water intake to lower the temperature of other water. Also plants can fill large tanks where water can wait to cool down. Then once the water is cooled down it can be returned to the original body of water. This may have other adverse effects say if a body of water has a low volume, then the plant could potentially dry up a body of water.
Overall, dischage of water from nuclear fission plants is a point source, and plants do have a permit to discharge this water that can polluted bodies of water in terms of temperature. I'm not advocating either side. I'm only stating the current issue in this post this week. Personally, I would place my preference on more water storage tanks for water ta have allowed cooled times. This seems like it's a safer approach where there isn't large changes in water temperature. Thanks for reading this week guys! Let me know if you have any comments, suggestions, or ideas for next week post, cheers!
Info: http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/nuclear_power/fact-sheet-water-use.pdf
Pictured above shows a thermal radiation picture from some plant(s) or other source. This added heat to a body of water can be very harmful to aquatic organisms.
Photo: https://spoonsenergymatters.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/ip-thermal-plume.jpg
Photo: https://spoonsenergymatters.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/ip-thermal-plume.jpg
Shows a simple diagram of thermal pollution as I explained in the passage above.
Photo: http://image.slidesharecdn.com/pollution-141008113108-conversion-gate02/95/pollution-31-638.jpg?cb=1412786329
Photo: http://image.slidesharecdn.com/pollution-141008113108-conversion-gate02/95/pollution-31-638.jpg?cb=1412786329