Drought hits U.S. power supply
MORGANTOWN, W.Va., Aug 15, 2012 -- UPI
Water shortages due to ongoing drought affect the U.S. power
supply as power plants become overheated and shut down or run at
lower capacity, analysts say.
Because they are completely dependent on water for cooling
and make up about half the water usage in the United States,
power plants can become casualties of droughts, says Barbara
Carney of the National Energy Technology Laboratory in
Morgantown, W. Va.
Nuclear power suffers particularly, since the average nuclear
plant that generates 12.2 million megawatt hours of electricity
requires far more water to cool its turbines than other power
plants.
If water levels in the rivers that cool the plants drop too
low, the power plant won't be able to draw in enough water.
In addition, if the cooling water discharged from a plant
raises river temperatures above certain levels, U.S.
environmental regulations require the plant to shut down.
At least four nuclear plants had to shut down in July for
these reasons, and nationwide, nuclear generation is at its
lowest in a decade with the plants operating at only 93 per cent
of capacity, NewScientist.com reported.
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