Summer droughts could idle nuclear power plants

by billso on Saturday, 9 February 2008

From the Asso­ci­ated Press: elec­tric com­pa­nies in the south­east USA are grow­ing con­cerned over pos­si­ble sum­mer droughts. Nuclear power plants require tremen­dous amounts of water for cool­ing. Reser­voirs, rivers and lake lev­els in some areas may fall below the intake pipes. If that hap­pens, nuclear plant oper­a­tors have no choice but to shut down their facil­i­ties and pray for rain.

Elec­tric­ity pro­duced for the grid can­not be stored on a mas­sive scale. It’s con­sumed within a sec­ond of production.

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