How many gallons of water are needed to cool the nuclear core during nuclear energy production?
What is the water temperature upon leaving the core? Is the water merely recycled or do they attempt to cool it before dumping it into lakes and rivers? How often is the water replaced?
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Depends a lot on the design of a nuclear reactor since there are different kinds. The water around the reactor is usually kept under pressure so the water can get higher than it’s normal, atmospheric boiling temp.
If water is pulled from a natural lake/river, then it is cooled before before it’s returned. A lot of times plants will dig a lake just for the purpose of emergency cooling water. The water in the reactor core is also not the same water outside the plant. Plants will have different cooling loops. Heat is transfered between the two with heat exchangers.
The water is cooled through heat exchangers though. Those large towers commonly associated with nuclear plants are actually cooling towers. Water is sprayed inside the tower and some of the water evaporates carrying away energy, thus lowering the temperature of the water. The shape of the towers helps cause an updraft of air inside. Not all nuclear plants use this style of tower though.
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