Cost of Thermal Effluent Standards for Power Plants

This paper summarizes results from a study to explore thermal pollution abatement possibilities for proposed steam electric generating units, and to develop methods for deriving approximate estimates of associated abatement costs. A procedure for developing functional relations between minimum abatement costs and degrees of effluent control, defined in terms of effluent flow rate and temperature, is presented. This procedure yields estimates of the costs of meeting alternative standards on effluent flow rate and temperature. Results of case study applications on fossil-fuel and nuclear generating units serve to clarify the description of the procedure and demonstrate its feasibility. The case study applications also demonstrate the importance of considering modifications in both the steam cycle and the cooling system in developing cost estimates. The integration of the cost-estimating procedure with temperature prediction models in establishing thermal quality standards is also examined.