Increasing Nuclear Power Plants Resilience with Dry-Cooling

Summary

In southern parts of the world, rising temperatures may be a significant challenge for assuring the well-functioning of thermal and nuclear power plants cooling systems. Eskom, the South Africa’s power utility, made a strategic decision in the 80s to invest in dry cooling as a response to water scarcity in the country. More recently, Eskom recognized in its corporate climate change strategy that dry-cooling technologies might be a short-term adaptation solution to projected reductions in freshwater resources due to climate change for its new thermal power plants.

Key take-aways

• Increasing resilience to rising temperatures and water scarcity is easier when it is planned in the design of generation assets.
• Investments in adaptation to climate change may involve higher project costs.

Further reading

Advances in Dry Cooling Deployed at South African Power Stations