nuclear-news

Nuclear and coal power plants the victims of global warming

As the U.S. Warms, Power Plants Face New Water Limits Climate Central,By Andrew Freedman, 25 Sept The power sector is responsible for a large share — about 40 percent — of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., particularly thermoelectric-generating stations, such as coal-fired power plants. And so it is not without a hint of irony that a recent study concluded that the effects of global warming, particularly drought and heat waves, will increasingly limit the generating capacity of these power plants — thereby making them both contributors to and victims of global warming…

… In the U.S., power plant operators must comply with laws such as the Clean Water Act, as well as state regulations that prohibit nuclear and other plants from operating once water temperatures go above a certain threshold, in part because it could compromise the safe operation of the facility, and also because discharging very warm water can kill fish and other marine life. Conflicts between the need for electrical power on the one hand, and environmental concerns on the other, tend to arise during periods of hot, dry weather, when river levels drop and water temperatures spike. Electricity demand is often heightened during such periods, due to air conditioner use, making any disruptions in service especially costly for utilities……. This past summer there were several instances when power plants had to shut down after running into water temperature thresholds. For example, the Millstone nuclear plant in Waterford, Conn. had to partially shut down in mid-August because the waters of Long Island Sound had become too warm to cool the plant, a development that plant operators had never encountered before.

In July, the New York Times reported that the Braidwood Generating Station, a nuclear plant about 60 miles southwest of Chicago, had to be granted a special waiver to continue operating after the water it was taking in for cooling purposes hit 102°F, two degrees above the legal operating limit for the plant.

And according to an article in the Washington Post, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency also granted special exceptions to four coal-fired power plants, along with three other nuclear plants this summer, in order to allow them to discharge water that exceeded water temperature limits.

The study comes at a time when the power sector is facing increasing electricity demands as well as pressure to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Given the long lifespan and huge costs of building power plants and electrical infrastructure, the authors recommend that warming-related cuts in power generation be factored into the planning process, including the likelihood that cooling water will be a more limited commodity in the future……

In addition to the general decrease in summer electrical generating capacity, the study found that the probabilities of extreme reductions in power production will increase as well. For example, at one power plant the researchers studied, a 1,200 megawatt station in New Madrid, MO., low river flows and increased water temperatures could cut usable capacity down to as low as 400 megawatts on a regular basis by the 2040s, with such severe disruptions taking place every seven-to-10 years, on average.

The study projects that the largest water temperature increases will take place in the southern part of the Mississippi River Basin and in the East, although other studies have projected greater warming in Western states compared to the Southeast. …. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/study-finds-us-power-plants-vulnerable-to-global-warming-related-cooling-water-disruptions-15041?utm_source=pulsenews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed:+climatecentral/djOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed

September 28, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA