Cold shock: biological implications and a method for approximating transient environmental temperatures in the near-field region of a thermal discharge.
Biological data on the temperature preferences of fish indicate that, in general, they will be attracted to thermal discharges in the winter. This attraction to warmer temperatures increases their vulnerability to cold shock if the discharge heat source is discontinued. A scheme is proposed to predict the near-field thermal plume environmental temperatures during a power transient. This method can be applied to any jet discharge for which a steady-state model exists. The proposed transient model has been applied to an operating reactor. The predicted results illustrate how very rapidly the maximum temperatures decrease after an abrupt shutdown. This model can be employed to help assess the impact where cold shock may be a problem. Such predictions could also be the basis for restrictions on scheduled midwinter plant shutdowns.
D000818:Animals; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D008433:Mathematics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012769:Shock / Q000662:veterinary*; D013696:Temperature; D014876:Water Pollution