Driving forces of seawater current in the Tokyo Bay have several factors including the tide, the density structure, the river inflow and others. On the other hand, many power plants of total output of 185.4 MW (as of 1995) are located along the coast of the bay, together with a large number of factors which load the sea area with cooling water and heat. Although these facilities might be considered to affect water current in the bay, few studies have been made on the effects which these artificial inputs may exert on water current. The present study reports computation results, using a 3-dimentional current model on effects of water intake and effluent by a possibly increasing number of power plants on the current in the bay.
It was concluded that an additional power plant output of 103.1 MW (corresponding to increase of cooling water by 30% and of heat load by 20% from the present levels) might bring about only slight changes except for altered water current and temperature in the vicinities of power plants of which power output were increased. Average temperature rise of 0.1 °C was also predicted in the surface water throughout the bay.
