Movable-bed hydraulic model study for Cooper Nuclear Station intake system

A movable bed model study was conducted for the purpose of alleviating the sedimentation problems which might impair the performance of the intake structure for the circulating- and service-water systems of the Cooper Nuclear Station, which is located on the Missouri River, near Brownville, Nebraska. In addition to a working model of the intake structure, the model included the portion of the river adjacent to, and immediately upstream and downstream from the intake structure. Seven different schemes, designed to reduce the amount of sediment entering the intake structure and circulating- and service-water systems by modifying the approaching flow, were investigated in this study. The model results indicate that the configuration finally adopted should effect a 40 to 70 percent reduction in the amount of suspended sediment entering the circulating- and service-water systems, for the river flow conditions which prevail most of the time. A very large reduction in the amount of gravel entering the intake structure is also expected