Power Plant Cooling Water Simulator

Thermal power plants — coal, gas, nuclear — reject far more heat than they turn into electricity, and how they get rid of that heat determines how much water they need. This simulator models the three main cooling technologies side by side: once-through river cooling (huge withdrawal, tiny consumption), a wet recirculating tower (small withdrawal, high consumption via evaporation), and a dry air-cooled condenser (almost no water, but a real efficiency penalty on hot days). Adjust plant output and ambient temperature to see the water-energy tradeoff play out in real time.