Are the cooling towers hollow?
Loy Yang Power’s cooling towers are 114 metres high 92.8 metres diameter at the base 55 metre diameter at the top. Walls vary between 18 and 60 centimetres thick. The cooling towers are hollow and consist of a hyperbolic concrete shell supported over a concrete basin. Atmospheric air enters through the bottom ring of the tower and rises through it by natural convection. This process acts to cool the water prior to its recirculation through the cooling water system. Only two percent of cooling water is lost through this process of evaporation cooling. The white cloud emanating from the cooling towers is steam from the water vapour as it cools.
