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In Depth › Analysis

Nuclear power stations by the sea?

Wednesday, 22 November 2006 Anna
Salleh
ABC

Cooling towers are one option for getting
rid of waste heat from power plants (Image: iStockphoto)

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News Analysis Any Australian nuclear
power plants would most likely need to be built on the coast where gigalitres of
seawater could be used to cool them, suggest experts.

"Because we've got a water shortage in this country it would be best to place
them on the coast," says nuclear power engineer Professor John Price of Monash University in
Melbourne.

Price's comments come in the wake of a draft
report from Prime Minister John Howard's nuclear taskforce that proposes
constructing 25 nuclear power plants to meet Australia's future energy
needs.

Price, who welcomes the new report, says "gigantic" amounts of water are
required to cool a nuclear power station.

"I'm talking about tonnes per second," says Price, who has designed nuclear
power stations in the UK.

According to the taskforce, headed by nuclear physicist Dr Ziggy Switkowski,
nuclear power plants are less efficient than coal-fired plants and thus require
more cooling.

One estimate, from a recent report to the Queensland government, suggests a 1400 megawatt
nuclear power station would use around 25 gigalitres of water a year.

This is about 1.26 times the water used by an equivalent coal-fired power
station, says the report by Dr Ian Rose of Roam Consulting, a Queensland-based
company with expertise in energy modelling.

Water cooling

While the Switkowski report does not consider specific locations for nuclear
power plants in Australia, it says they are often located near existing power
stations because this ensures ready access to appropriate infrastructure and
water for cooling.

Most nuclear power stations are cooled using water from a river, lake or the
ocean, the report says.

But the Rose report says a lack of reliable river water makes a nuclear power
station cooled by river water "not an option for Australian conditions".

Both Rose and Price also raise the issue of environmental effects of the
warmer water discharged from nuclear power stations on rivers.

"I wouldn't think that would be a good idea [siting a nuclear power station
on a river] in Australia because the river volumes are not huge and you don't
want to heat the river up," says Price.

Price suggests power stations by the sea are preferable because the sea can
more easily dilute the heat of the discharge.

But Rose says it may be difficult to find suitable seaside locations.

"The number of seaboard nuclear sites in areas close to a major transmission
grid in eastern Australia is likely to be limited," his report says.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says that discharge from
nuclear power stations can also contain heavy metals and salts that can harm
aquatic life.

It also says removal of water upstream in the first place can also damage
river environments.

Cooling options

Instead of discharging warm water, some nuclear power stations evaporate
water into the air through cooling towers, Price says.

While Rose says this is a preferred option, Price says this is a waste of
water.

According to the Switkowski and Rose reports, it is also possible to use
'dry' cooling, which reduces water consumption by using air as a coolant. But
they say this would be more expensive.

Another option, says Price, is to use waste heat from nuclear power stations
to desalinate water.

"That may be one of the most interesting outputs, as far as Australia is
concerned," he says.

The nuclear taskforce is inviting public submissions on its draft report
until 12 December and the final report is due at the end of the year.

Tags: environment,
computers-and-technology,
engineering

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