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On the efficient allocation of environmental assimilative capacity: The case of thermal emissions to a large body of water
Author(s) -
Scherer Charles R.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr011i001p00180
Subject(s) - environmental science , cooling tower , thermal , diffuser (optics) , thermal power station , tower , effluent , marine engineering , environmental engineering , meteorology , engineering , water cooling , civil engineering , waste management , mechanical engineering , geography , light source , physics , optics
This report considers the economically efficient level of environmental assimilative capacity in the case of thermal electric rejected heat discharges to large lakes subject to temperature standards. A mathematical model relating heated effluent flow rate and ‘near‐field’ temperature is used to determine maximum diffuser port size. Diffusor costs are developed as a function of discharge velocity, port size being given. Cooling tower costs are also developed for comparison with diffusor costs in selecting an optimal level of thermal assimilative capacity. The relationship between this selection process and optimal power plant siting models is outlined. It is shown that arbitrarily fixing discharge velocity at some ‘practical’ level will tend to bias the results of these siting models toward overly conservative use of thermal assimilative capacity. That is, available capacity will not be fully exploited, and the cost of a given level of power output will be greater than is necessary.