http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1546.html
(Click "Download as PDF" on the right to view the actual report.)
Thermal power plants such as nuclear and coal need to reject large quantities of heat to the environment. Many plants do this by using water from lakes and rivers for coolant.
The above study argues that climate change - specifically reduced availability of surface water and warmer water temperatures - can reduce the capacity of thermal power plants by 4% to 16%. The wide range being the result of various cooling schemes and climate model predictions. For example, plants that use cooling towers and recirculate the water fair better than plants that just in suck river water and pump it back again.
Note that gas plants are largely unaffected since they usually use direct combustion turbines, rather than a closed cycle steam turbine. Their waste heat goes right out the exhaust pipe. Though the report doesn't seem to mention it, some geothermal plants would likely be affected, as well as some types of solar thermal I'd imagine.
One more reason to push for more solar PV and wind!
=Smidge=
(Click "Download as PDF" on the right to view the actual report.)
Thermal power plants such as nuclear and coal need to reject large quantities of heat to the environment. Many plants do this by using water from lakes and rivers for coolant.
The above study argues that climate change - specifically reduced availability of surface water and warmer water temperatures - can reduce the capacity of thermal power plants by 4% to 16%. The wide range being the result of various cooling schemes and climate model predictions. For example, plants that use cooling towers and recirculate the water fair better than plants that just in suck river water and pump it back again.
Note that gas plants are largely unaffected since they usually use direct combustion turbines, rather than a closed cycle steam turbine. Their waste heat goes right out the exhaust pipe. Though the report doesn't seem to mention it, some geothermal plants would likely be affected, as well as some types of solar thermal I'd imagine.
One more reason to push for more solar PV and wind!
=Smidge=
