Thermal Discharge at Power Plants
Pilgrim Power Plant
The MTI satellite imaged the Pilgrim Power Plant on June 3rd and 4th, 2000. The plant intakes water for cooling from the Atlantic Ocean and disperses waste heat back into the ocean. Thermal images taken from the MTI show that water discharged from the plant can recirculate to the cooling water intake. This can cause the plant to generate power less efficiently. The collected data can be used to create simulations that accurately predict the behavior of thermal discharge. These simulations can then determine how often and under what conditions recirculation occurs.Turkey Point Power Plant
Turkey Point Power Plant was imaged by the MTI on November 28th, 2000. Turkey Point uses a closed system of cooling canals. Water and waste heat are discharged at the north end of the system, heat is evaporated into the atmosphere, and the cooled water reenters the power plant at the south end of the canal system. The plant's operators often measure the flow and temperature of the canal system, and images from the MTI are a useful addition to these observations as MTI images can collect data for the entire canal system simultaneously.Comanche Peak
On September 3rd, 2000 the MTI imaged Squaw Creek reservoir, the cooling lake for the Comanche Peak power plant. The power plant uses intake and discharge pipes which are about ten meters below the surface of Squaw Creek. The intake and discharge pipes are both located on the lower left section of the lake, causing some concern that not all the waste heat would dissipate before entering the intake pipe. The MTI images helped to confirm that efficient cooling was in fact taking place.- Analyses of MTI imagery of power plant thermal discharge
- LA-UR-95-1800
Energy Output
Thermal images of waste heat discharge can also be used to determine the energy output of a plant.If the discharged water is hotter than the surface temperature of the lake, it will rise as a plume and spread out over the surface of the pond or lake. If we can measure the volume flow and temperature of this discharged water before it mixes with the water in the pond, we can determine the output of the nuclear power plant. If the discharged water mixes with the water at the top of the pond before its temperature can be measured, we are left with measuring the integrated enhanced temperature of the outer layer of warm water at the top of the pond. The thickness of this layer of warm water is determined by turbulence produced by wind stress.
- Jack Hills, LANL