racookpe1978
Nuclear
- Feb 1, 2007
- 5,984
Seen this many times, but have never heard an explanation.
The outlets of the cooling water foam up with long-lived, "heavy" foam (not a light froth. Outlet is (of course) warmer than inlet water, but river water, lake water or recirculating water to cooling pond all seem to show the foaming. Doesn't seem to be air temperature related (summer, spring, winter are near-identical.) Can't figure it is from a water chemical treatment since lake water, river water can't be discharged with chemicals in it. If it is just dissolved air being forced out by the temperature increase and released by turbulence, the frothing would not occur, but just be shown by air bubbling quickly out. 5-6-8 minutes after discharge, the foam still sits in big ugly clumps on the side of the outlet trenches/discharge routes.
The outlets of the cooling water foam up with long-lived, "heavy" foam (not a light froth. Outlet is (of course) warmer than inlet water, but river water, lake water or recirculating water to cooling pond all seem to show the foaming. Doesn't seem to be air temperature related (summer, spring, winter are near-identical.) Can't figure it is from a water chemical treatment since lake water, river water can't be discharged with chemicals in it. If it is just dissolved air being forced out by the temperature increase and released by turbulence, the frothing would not occur, but just be shown by air bubbling quickly out. 5-6-8 minutes after discharge, the foam still sits in big ugly clumps on the side of the outlet trenches/discharge routes.
