Cooling Potential of Missouri River in Missouri

The reach of the Missouri River bordering or crossing Missouri is studied with regard to its potential for use in once-through cooling of steam-electric power plants. The existing and future thermal regimes of the river are computed from a heat balance equation relating the rates of convective heat transfer, surface heat exchange between the river and the atmosphere, and heat inputs from power plants or other artificial sources. Streamwise temperature distributions with existing, proposed, and future permissible heat loads are shown for average river flow conditions, and for the 7-day, 10-yr low flow condition. It is demonstrated that this reach of the Missouri River can accomodate additional total capacity of more than 5,000 MW. These new plants must be sited properly to avoid the cumulative effects of upstream thermal loads.