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ijustlurkhereintheAM t1_j0ieuax wrote

Seems like a lot of water. I wonder if they cool and reuse, or use once and drain?

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adarkmethodicrash t1_j0ikaws wrote

Most of it is used for evaporative cooling. So it goes into the air.

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TenderfootGungi t1_j0j9xk4 wrote

If that is true, then it would be possible to cool in other ways. A massive air cooler would work, but probably so big it would not be practical. Power plants build a lake. They then pump water from the lake, cool, then return the warm water to the lake. At least her in KS, the fish and the fishermen love it.

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Has_hog t1_j0jetwu wrote

Rivers heat up by dumping back warm water. That is not good and the fish do not "love it" -- neither do fishermen lol. This is extremely well known and there is even a word for it, it's called "thermal pollution".

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hithisispaul t1_j0jjdpo wrote

Well they said lake, not river.

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upvoatsforall t1_j0jsphs wrote

Fish need very specific water temperatures to spawn in. Artificially heated lakes would require warmer climate fish for something like this to work. It would be interesting to see how it works.

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hithisispaul t1_j0jx9lm wrote

I'm aware. The example given was a man made lake beside a powerplant in KS, so my guess is that this is a specific place where this has worked. I doubt they're trying to stock it with rainbows or brook trout.

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rep- t1_j0jl06g wrote

Warm water is already destroying our salmon runs/spawns up here in the PNW..

Our main fish even in lakes are steelhead and trout and neither of them farewell in warm water.. it's why the south doesn't have a trout fishery.

But I do agree a cooling pond(contained) would be the way to go

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SmokeyUnicycle t1_j0knjww wrote

oh they "farewell" alright

edit: this is a joke that the fish die, "farewell" is very different than "fare well" lol

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Here_is_to_beer t1_j0igayz wrote

I assume the water is turned into steam keeping the hot things cool.

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Drumphelstiltsken t1_j0ihnqk wrote

Do they vent that, though?

No idea, I just always assumed it was condensed again and reused. Like a “closed cycle” I guess?

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BoomZhakaLaka t1_j0k821v wrote

Some evaporative cooling systems re-condense their own steam but even these ones lose water over time. A percentage of the steam escapes.

Older systems vent the steam straight out because that used to be the cheap way to do things.

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rainniier2 t1_j0ini3h wrote

It would take energy to turn the steam back into water and energy is $$$.

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bobjoylove t1_j0jkjmu wrote

Cooling tower. They are unpopular with residents because they look like chimneys.

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Aggravating-Pear4222 t1_j0ixype wrote

Well, an increased rate of energy transfer either through active pumping of a coolant some other way which would lead to a need for more energy since passive cooling/condensation isn’t efficient in that scale (I assume so don’t listen to me but I get what you were originally saying)

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