Preliminary Study on Thermal Power Plant Cooling System with No Heated Water Discharge

--- Concept of Circulating Water System Using Deep Sea Low Temperature and Its Advantages ---

Abstract

Most all of the thermal power plants in Japan are located on the shore and use seawater for cooling the turbine steam. The discharge of heated seawater should be restricted not to affect on the coastal ecosystem, and in addition, the seasonal variation of temperature of intake seawater is recognized as the gnificant factor of the power generating efficiency. In this study, a new ooling water system is proposed so as to avoid such problems, that is, the cooling water would be contained in a closed circuit pipe system and circulated between cold regions of the deep water and the condenser for turbine steam cooling. The general concept of the proposed system is presented and its characteristics compared with the conventional ones are discussed, and then, the effects on power generating efficiency with use of deep sea low temperature and drag reducing additives to the circulated cooling water are examined.