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Beneficial uses for thermal discharges
96
THERMAL
DISCHARGES
Beneficial Uses for Thermal Discharges. A.K. Biswas and B. Cook. Environment Canada, Environmental Systems Branch, Planning and Finance Service Report No.2 19’74, 75 pp., 33 tables, 44 figures, plus 21 pp. annotated bibliography.
This report is a searching review of present understanding and future outlook for the management of waste heat. Mostly a product of electrical power production, waste heat contributes approximately 80% of total heat rejection to the Canadian environment. A number of imaginative proposals that have been made are explored: extending the navigation season on the Great Lakes, enhancing sewage treatment, operating desalination plants, conducting “open-field” thermal agriculture, and developing aquaculture. In the section on aquaculture (Chapter 4, pp. 29-45), the power plant characteristics that must be taken into account for an aquaculture development are considered first, followed by the forms of aquaculture possible. This leads to consideration and enumeration of the biological limitations including the possibility of increasing disease, effects of rapid temperature change, consequences from biocides used to control fouling, and public fear of radioactive contamination of the product. In sequence, the general problems associated with aquaculture are detailed, followed by histories of some experiences in Britain, Japan, U.S.A., and Canada. Consideration is then directed to alternative approaches to thermal aquaculture. The authors formulate a set of reasonable conclusions on the adaptability of different forms of aquaculture to power plant siting conditions, indicating the areas requiring further investigation; they add a note of caution citing developmental and economic constraints as factors tempering any overoptimism. The literature survey is extensive and pertinent. The article is recommended as a good, up-to-date perspective of a field undoubtedly subject to fairly rapid change from the many centres where research on aquaculture is expanding. J.R. BRETT (Nanaimo, B.C.,
Canada)
THERMAL
DISCHARGES
Beneficial Uses for Thermal Discharges. A.K. Biswas and B. Cook. Environment Canada, Environmental Systems Branch, Planning and Finance Service Report No.2 19’74, 75 pp., 33 tables, 44 figures, plus 21 pp. annotated bibliography.
This report is a searching review of present understanding and future outlook for the management of waste heat. Mostly a product of electrical power production, waste heat contributes approximately 80% of total heat rejection to the Canadian environment. A number of imaginative proposals that have been made are explored: extending the navigation season on the Great Lakes, enhancing sewage treatment, operating desalination plants, conducting “open-field” thermal agriculture, and developing aquaculture. In the section on aquaculture (Chapter 4, pp. 29-45), the power plant characteristics that must be taken into account for an aquaculture development are considered first, followed by the forms of aquaculture possible. This leads to consideration and enumeration of the biological limitations including the possibility of increasing disease, effects of rapid temperature change, consequences from biocides used to control fouling, and public fear of radioactive contamination of the product. In sequence, the general problems associated with aquaculture are detailed, followed by histories of some experiences in Britain, Japan, U.S.A., and Canada. Consideration is then directed to alternative approaches to thermal aquaculture. The authors formulate a set of reasonable conclusions on the adaptability of different forms of aquaculture to power plant siting conditions, indicating the areas requiring further investigation; they add a note of caution citing developmental and economic constraints as factors tempering any overoptimism. The literature survey is extensive and pertinent. The article is recommended as a good, up-to-date perspective of a field undoubtedly subject to fairly rapid change from the many centres where research on aquaculture is expanding. J.R. BRETT (Nanaimo, B.C.,
Canada)