Once-Through Cooling Potential of the Middle and Lower Mississippi River During Low Flow Conditions

Abstract

The once-through cooling potential of the Middle and Lower Mississippi River has been computed for the seven-day, ten-year low flow by the steady-state Iowa Thermal Regime Model. Longitudinal temperature distributions are shown with existing power plants and future power plants proposed through 1995. Permissible future plant additions based on current thermal standards also are determined. It is shown that even if thermal standards were based on low flow conditions, no existing or proposed future power plants will violate present thermal standards, and the total permissible future fossil-fueled power plant capacity along the study reach ranges from about 70,000 to 90,000 MW depending on the temperature base used. It also is shown that the total consumptive water use for existing and proposed future plants should cause no problems even during periods of low flow.