Spray Pond Design for Nuclear Power Plants

This paper presents a complex methodology for assessing the performance of spray ponds in ultimate heat sink service at nuclear power plants. A spray pond performance model, developed in the companion paper, is used in conjunction with on‐site and off‐site meteorological data to predict the highest temperature and greatest 30‐day water loss which can reasonably be expected to occur during the lifetime of the plant. The performance model for heat and mass transfer is used to develop an efficient phenomenological model used to scan the long‐term meteorological records. Refined estimates of temperature or water loss may then be based on more complicated models if necessary. Short‐term onsite data are correlated to the long‐term off‐site data to formulate correction factors for the difference in location. Cumulative distribution functions for temperature and water loss are determined from the longterm meteorological records to predict the occurrence of these quantities which are less severe than the peak. The methodology is demonstrated using data and parameters from the Palo Verde nuclear plant as an example.