This :rar; .>n tin-i-itvi r,or.i.-«-n'.1; offevts of power-plant, cooling sysu-r.s, under the .suspires of li.i '('. S. .VuU-ar Regulatory Coir.sissioti (.N'KC.). It is ,1 "KIUHTK" report in that il/dcil.s with Che .itaoKfiht-fii: efSects o£ cooling system in >',en«.'r.!l rather than those associated with a specific plant. The author has etuk-avored to sunwii'r Izo the results of tho known aisosphcrit: effects of toolinj; systt-ms, basing his • • (inclusions on five years >>! rKper U-nc*-l\\ tiu-prt»j>ar.il, ior. of enviruntnriu.il inp.ut scatcsioncs for tiu-SRC, to^i-ihcr witit osii nwiv<-li loraiuro survoys, pi-rson.il observations at operating power planis, part Lcipai i>>n-in vorkshops on hr.it dissipation effects, am! i'otit,iiis with rese.irehers inv.-st i^.it ttij: i-.>o! inj.', :wt-r pluses. It is hopeci th.u this; };encrlt-re;/pri iio>.-s ,icci:r.H«-Iv iUvsi-rUH-ihtatnospheric i»p.u"tM oi h>.*at din*si;>ac inn svstons .si. power pianis. Tiiis report d'^es not contain di-script ions .tnf of the numerous satheraacii-.tl node is that h.sve been f .irr.ul.ji! vd '<.'> pres'.ii-t atewspher U-hi-haviiir. Subseaucnt efforts in "he pro^ran «iJ5 im-luili-.1 iTiiir.ii revl.ev o! th<--wtris that purport to siroulat 1 oni in>; tovi-r pi-arw: '.K-haviur for predict tii£ sueh effects as plwtw U;ngth, plune rise, fogging .t:u! ii-Jui;, drift deposition, i-i---. These .studies, t» be published separtste Iv, will inrltide iheoretirai analysts of the nodeis and tv-pparistJiis of prt*dii-ied r<-su!'.s viiii ,umal t-ondt tions and with one another.As a result of the National Environmental !'o! h-y A.-r. of 1969 (NKS'A) and the Calvort Cliffs court decision, the Directorate nf i.ii-ensinK of the V. S. Atomic Energy ComisBion (now the KRC) entereit inr» ,s pr<>f;rcija to write environmental impact fvtatt-ftt-nts as a ..iep in fin-lie<'nsin>', <>) nisei ear power plants arvi other facilities. As part of this program, a few tneteoroIodises, including tinauthor and meteorological consultants for the utilities, became "instant 1 Xperts" on the effect of cooling-system effluents on the .uriospherc.Unfortunately, the state-of-the-art in .itciosphei ic understand ing and in plume and cloud modeling is such that meteorologists ire not now able to make accurate, quantitative predictions on how the atmosphere will react l;> UKlarge amounts of heat and water vapor it will be force 1 ! to accept from limited areas per unit of time from closed-cycle cooling systems. This is largely due to a lack of systematic, detailed observations at operating power plants and to the complexity of the atmospheric processes. The report therefore indicates areas in which more field work, information and model development are needed.
