Contribution to the Site Evaluation for the Power Plant Implantation: Hydrological Part

The satisfaction of water needs is a very important exclusion criterion in the selection of sites for the installation of power plants (nuclear or fossil plants). It can only be considered acceptable if the cooling capacity is satisfactory. The identification of the best sites in the final choice depends on the total cost of the cold source. In this work, a computer code for calculating the cooling water requirements of a power plant using a universal wet tower has been established. The installation, taken as an example, is a power station up to 1200 MWEl in a site such as the highlands, have been studied. The computer code for the analysis of the closed cooling circuit, it allows to determine the losses by water evaporation and water deconcentration (dilution). The program is based on the analytical relationships of a hydrological balance applied in cooling tower using the NF E 38-423 French standard. The calculations were made in ambient temperature ranges, relative humidity and variable power levels, using average meteorological data for a region in the highlands of Algeria. The results obtained are in good agreement with those of an IAEA simulator "wamp" and with the operating data of a thermal installation given in the literature as the power plant of the French (EDF plant).