First annual report on weather modification effects of cooling towers

Single cooling towers emit as much as 1000 MW of sensible and latent heat to the atmosphere. Planned energy centers or power parks may contain clusters of cooling towers which emit a total of 100,000 MW. Heat releases of this magnitude have the potential to significantly alter local weather. Cooling towers can also alter the local environment by the production of fog and clouds, and the deposition of drift salts. A basic one-dimensional mathematical model is presented for plume and cloud growth in the vicinity of cooling towers. Since the cooling tower emissions are usually constant with time, at least over time periods less than four or five hours, the steady-state assumption is good. Phenomena such as multiple plume merging and changes in the environmental air surrounding the plume are accounted for only by crude parameterization. Applications in analysis of the environmental effects of cooling towers at fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants are reported