Numerical simulation of the thermal discharge for Oconee power plant into Lake Keowee

Understanding the environmental impact of hot water discharge from the condenser of a steam power plant is of considerable importance in helping to preserve aquatic life and also the overall efficiency of the power plant. In recent years, with improvement of computing facilities, different types of mathematical models have been developed to predict such effects. The present work involves the prediction of thermal dispersion using a three dimensional numerical simulation model. The area of interest is lake Keowee in South Carolina which is located about 40 km west of Greenville and was made from 1968 through 1971 by damming the Little River and Keowee River. The lake has two arms connected by a canal and has three power plants on it: the Oconee Nuclear power plant which takes its condenser cooling water from the lower arm and discharges it into the upper arm; Jocasse pumped storage station which is located at the extreme end of the upper arm and uses Lake Keowee as its lower reservoir and the Keowee-hydro station which is located adjacent to the Oconee nuclear power station and uses Lake Keowee as its higher level reservoir. The mathematical model used is a three dimensional Rigid Lid model which is used to predict the three dimensional velocity and temperature distributions in the vicinity of the heated discharge from Oconee nuclear station. The model formulation is based on Sengupta and Lick and it essentially solves the three dimensional momentum, continuity and energy equations subject to the rigid lid (horizontal free surface), hydrostatic and Boussines approximations