AUTHOR=Geng Bingxu , Lu Lingyan , Cao Qian , Zhou Wen , Li Shiyu , Wen Ding , Hong Man 

TITLE=Three-dimensional numerical study of cooling water discharge of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in southern coast of China during summer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1012260

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2022.1012260

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=The impact of thermal pollution caused by cooling water discharge of power plant on the surrounding marine ecology has been a hot issue in oceanographic research. To reveal the distribution pattern of cooling water discharge of Daya Bay nuclear power plant in summer and the impact on the surrounding marine environment, this research established a high-resolution 3D cooling water discharge model based on ECOMSED model in Daya Bay. The cooling water discharge model results are consistent with the observation results on the distribution of time series of tide level and temperature. The calculated distribution of temperature increase is similar to the distribution trend of remote sensing images. The study showed that the stratification of the Daya Bay water is stronger in summer. The cooling water mainly spreads in the surface water layer, and the temperature rise in the bottom layer is not apparent. Quantitative analysis showed that around 18.8-21.6 km2 of the area has 1℃ surface temperature rises. The area of temperature rises that exceeds the seawater quality standard for Type 1 and 2 (2 ℃) is between 6.2 and 8.1 km2. The area of temperature rises that exceeds the seawater quality standard for Type 3 and 4 (4 ℃) is between no more than 1.2 km2. The area with a bottom temperature rises of 1 ℃ does not exceed 2.2 km2, and there is no area that has a bottom temperature rise over 1 ℃. The tidal dynamics process also influences on the dispersion of cooling water discharge from Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, where the influence is more significant in the spring tide period than in the neap tide period.