Shape of cooling towers at nuclear reactors

Thank you.

Exactly - pretty much any steam-turbine fired plant will need cooling towers, especially if it's sited anywhere near a body of water that it uses for recirculation - the EPA kinda frowns on a gen pumping 200'F water into the local estuary.. :)

Hi...

Cooling Towers are of 2 basic types:

1. Forced Draft Cooling Towers..which are not tall, box shaped but need motor driven fans to force the surrounding air through the water for heat transfer to take place. This way the condenser water is cooled for re-circulation. They have lower investment cost but higher running expense's as a lot of energy is used for running the fans which are several meters in diameter.
2. Natural Draught Cooling Towers...these are tall parabolic shaped RCC structures. The parabolic shape is responsible for inducing an upward draft of air within the structure. This air called a Natural Draft draws out heat from the warm water & cools it to the required temprature. These towers are costly to build but have low maintenance costs. The additional investment gets recovered in a few years time due to saving in energy.

These types are of towers are useful when cooling water requirements are very large. I must also tell you that a nuclear plant has amuch larger cooling water requirement compared to a thermal power station of equal MW size.

I had the chance to stand inside a nuke plant cooling tower before they put in the guts (piping, etc.) on a field trip when I was a kid. Very neat, and a powerful memory for me as to how a "passive" system can work so well - 80 and humid outside, chilly inside. Power of design...

THE SHAPE AND HEIGHT CREATE A VENTURY EFFECT THAT ENHANSES THE NATURAL DRAFT ALL READY EXISTS. A STRAIGHT CYLINDERICAL SHAPE WOULD HAVE A NATUAL DRAFT, THE HOUR GLASS SHAPE INCREASES EFFICIENCY.