A Parametric Study of the Impact of the Cooling Water Site Specific Conditions on the Efficiency of a Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant

In this study, the thermal analysis for the impact of the cooling seawater site specific conditions on the thermal efficiency of a conceptual pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant (PWR NPP) is presented. The PWR NPP thermal performance depends upon the heat transfer analysis of steam surface condenser accounting for the key parameters such as the cooling seawater salinity and temperature that affect the condenser overall heat transfer coefficient and fouling factor. The study has two aspects: the first one is the impact of the temperature and salinity within a range of (290？K–310？K and 0.00–60000？ppm) on the seawater thermophysical properties such as density, specific heat, viscosity, and thermal conductivity that reflect a reduction in the condenser overall heat transfer coefficient from 2.25？kW/m2？K to 1.265？kW/m2？K at temperature and salinity of 290？K and 0.00？ppm and also from 2.35？kW/m2？K to 1.365？kW/m2？K at temperature and salinity of 310？K and 60000？ppm, whereas the second aspect is the fouling factor variations due to the seawater salinity. The analysis showed that the two aspects have a significant impact on the computation of the condenser overall heat transfer coefficient, whereas the increase of seawater salinity leads to a reduction in the condenser overall heat transfer coefficient. 1. Introduction Thermal power plants are built for prescribed specific design conditions based on the targeted power demand, metallurgical limits of structural elements, statistical values of environmental conditions, and so forth. At design stage, a cooling medium temperature is chosen for each site considering long term average climate conditions. However, the working conditions deviate from the nominal operating conditions in practice. For this reason, efficiency in electricity production is affected by the deviation of the instantaneous operating temperature and salinity of seawater cooling water of nuclear power plant from the design temperature of the cooling medium extracted from environmental to transfer waste heat to the atmosphere via condenser. In the literature, there are few works published such as that of Kokaji [1] which indicated that all the nuclear power plants in Japan are located on the seaside and use a great amount of seawater for cooling condenser like fossil power generation plants. The resultant thermal discharge which may have an impact on the environmental of the surrounding areas is one of the most important issues to be given a serious consideration, next to prevention from affecting the local residents by released