What comes out of the large towers that can be seen near certain nuclear power plants ?
This is steam, otherwise known as moist air. The shape of the plume varies according to weather conditions (ambient temperature, hygrometry, wind direction and force). Cooling towers cool plants located on the banks of certain rivers. Thanks to these structures, the plant cooling process uses between one-twentieth and one-thirtieth of the amount of water that would otherwise have to be drawn from the environment. The plumes do not have any significant impact on temperature, precipitations and soil humidity. The height of cooling towers has been calculated so as to ensure that the falling steam does not cause fog or black ice. The only observed effect is a 5% reduction in sunlight within a 2-km radius of the plant and of 2% within a 5-km radius, which is less than the natural fluctuations from one year to another.
