Artificial cooling of the Columbia River by dam regulation 1959

摘要

An increase in the flow of water from the lower depths of the Grand Coulee Reservoir was used to lower the river temperature at Hanford Atomic Products Operation (HAPO). A net average daily reduction of over 1 C resulted. The average for one day varied from 1.7 to 0.2 C. Before the dam control period, the Bonneville Power Administration transferred load from Grand Coulee Dam to other dams in order to conserve cold water. The authors calculate that there was more value to HAPO from this transfer than the combined effects of river bed losses and/or any variance in scheduled or base loads.