Friday, December 03, 2010

[dbtwhpaj] NIMBY Nuclear Power Plants and waste heat

Nuclear power plants produce about two watts of waste heat for every watt of electricity generated.  Everyone says "Not In My Back Yard", but the attractiveness of a plant could be enhanced by providing the local community with the benefits of the waste heat. 

Ideas: Free heat and hot water to everyone. A planned community where everyone gets a hot tub and heated pool. A year round water park or resort. An artificially engineered tropical rain forest.  All these seem especially attractive in cold climates. 

A small problem: during a hot summer, the demand for electricity is high; the demand for hot water is low.

What do you do if the plant needs to shut down for emergency maintenance for a month in the middle of winter?  Suddenly we need 2 gigawatts of heat so the monkeys don't die.

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