College of Engineering, Architecture and
Technology
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
BSEE 2-B Group 12
Manatad, Kenneth
Balgos, Kimmar Mr. Paulo Cercado
Diocson, Ronel
-Students-
-Professor-
Thermal Pollution and
Nuclear Hazards
What is Thermal Pollution?
Thermal pollution is defined as the addition of excess of undesirable heat to
water thereby making it harmful to man, animal or aquatic life. Thermal
pollution may also cause significant departures from nor activities of
aquatic communities
Thermal pollution is any deviation from the natural temperature in a habitat
and can range from elevated temperatures associated with industrial
cooling activities to discharges of cold water into streams below large
impoundments.
From: Freshwater Ecology (Second Edition), 2010
SOURCES
• Nuclear power plants
• Coal fired plants
• Industrial effluents
• Domestic sewage
• Hydro-electric power
Nuclear power plants
• Nuclear power plants including drainage from hospitals, research
institutions, nuclear experiments and explosions, discharge a lot of heat
that is not utilized along with traces of toxic radio nuclides into nearby water
streams. Emissions from nuclear reactors and processing installations are
also responsible for increasing the temperatures of water bodies. The
operations of power reactors and nuclear fuel processing units constitutes
the major contributor of heat in the aquatic environment. Heated effluents
from power plants are discharged at 10 C higher than the receiving waters
that affects the aquatic flora and fauna.
Coal-fired power plants
• Coal fired power plants constitute a major source of thermal pollution. The
condenser coils in such plants are cooled with water from nearby lakes or
rivers. The resulting heated water is discharged into streams thereby
raising the water temperature by 15C. Heated effluent decreases the
dissolved content of water resulting in death of fish and other aquatic
organisms. The sudden fluctuation of temperature also leads to "thermal
shock" killing aquatic life that have become acclimatized to living in a
steady temperature.
Industrial effluents
• Industries like textile, paper, pulp and sugar manufacturing release huge
amounts of cooling water along with effluents into nearby natural water
bodies. The waters polluted by sudden and heavy organic loads result in
severe drop in levels of dissolved oxygen leading to death of several
aquatic organisms.
Domestic Sewage
• Domestic sewage is discharged into rivers, lakes, canals or streams with
minimal treatment or without any treatment. These wastes have a higher
organic temperature and organic load. This leads to decrease in dissolved
oxygen content in the receiving waters resulting in the set-up of anaerobic
conditions causing release of foul and offensive gases in water. Eventually,
this leads to development of anoxic conditions resulting in rapid death of
aquatic organisms.
Hydro-electric power
• Generation of hydroelectric power sometimes leads to negative thermal
loading in water systems. Apart from electric power industries, various
factories with cooling requirement contribute to thermal loading.
Thermal pollution in streams by human activities
• Industries and power plants use water to cool machinery and discharge
the warm water into a stream • Stream temperature rises when trees and
tall vegetation providing shade are cut.
• Soil erosion caused due to construction also leads to thermal pollution
• Removal of stream side vegetation
• Poor farming Practices also lead to thermal pollution
The Main Cause of Thermal Pollution:
Many human and natural factors contribute to the problem of thermal
pollution. The single biggest cause of thermal pollution is probably cooling
for industrial machinery and power plants. Water is an excellent, and free,
cooling agent. This is why many industrial operations pull in relatively cool
water to cool their machinery and let the relatively warm water flow back
into the river or lake or sea.
Thermal pollution also has some natural causes. Geothermal vents and hot
springs introduce excess heat into bodies of water. Soil erosion,
deforestation, and runoff from paved areas are other artificial sources of hot
water. Deforestation eliminates shade, which exposes the water to sunlight.
Water on hot paved surfaces gets hot, then runs off into nearby bodies of
water, raising the water temperature. Retention ponds can also be a source
of thermal shock because the relatively small and shallow bodies of water
can absorb quite a bit of heat energy from the sun. Pumping that water
directly into a river, lake, or bay causes a significant temperature increase,
just like pouring a hot pitcher of water into a bathtub full of water causes the
water to jump a few degrees Fahrenheit.
The Effects of Thermal Pollution:
The effects of thermal pollution are diverse, but in short, thermal pollution
damages water ecosystems and reduces animal populations. Plant
species, algae, bacteria, and multi-celled animals all respond differently to
significant temperature changes. Organisms that cannot adapt can die of
various causes or can be forced out of the area. Reproductive problems
can further reduce the diversity of life in the polluted area.
However, thermal pollution can be beneficial to some species. Bacteria and
algae tend to benefit from the excess heat. Some larger animals also
benefit from the warmer water. In Florida, manatees spend the winter near
power plants, where the cooling water they use warms up the shallow salt
water. On balance, thermal pollution is a negative force for many reasons.
What are the harmful Effects of the Thermal Pollution?
Reduction in dissolved oxygen:
Concentration of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) decreases with increase in
temperature.
• Increase in toxicity: The rising temperature increases the toxicity of the
poison present in water. A 10C increase in temperature of water doubles
the toxicity effect of potassium cyanide, while 80C rise in temperature
triples the toxic effects of o-xylene causing massive mortality to fish.
• Food storage for fish: Abrupt changes in temperature alters the seasonal
variation in the type and abundance of lower organisms leading to shortage
of right food for fish at the right time.
• Interference in biological activity: Temperature is considered to be of vital
significance to physiology, metabolism and biochemical processes that
control respiratory rates, digestion, excretion, and overall development of
aquatic organisms. Temperature changes cause total disruption to the
entire ecosystem.
• Interference in reproduction: In fishes, several activities like nest building,
spawning, hatching, migration and reproduction depend on optimum
temperature.
• Direct mortality: Thermal pollution is directly responsible for mortality of
aquatic organisms. Increase in temperature of water leads to exhaustion of
microorganisms thereby shortening the life span of fish. Above a certain
temperature, fish die due to failure of respiratory system and nervous
system failure
The discharged effluents of these sources have a higher temperature than
the intake water that reduces the concentration of oxygen from the water
which causes the deleterious effects on the marine ecosystem.
How can thermal pollution be prevented?
The following measures can be taken to prevent or control high
temperature caused by thermal pollution:
1. Heated water from the industries can treated before discharging directly
to the water bodies.
2. Heated water from the industries can be treated by the installation of
cooling ponds and cooling towers.
3. Industrial treated water can be recycled for domestic use or industrial
heating.
4. Through artificial lakes: In this lake Industries can discharge their used or
heated water at one end and water for cooling purposes may be withdrawn
from the other end. The heat is eventually dissipated through evaporation.
Hence, we can say any kind of pollution may directly or indirectly affect
humans because the loss of biodiversity causes changes that affect all the
aspects of the environment.
