Why do nuclear power plants have such wide chimneys?
Why do nuclear power plants have such wide chimneys?
Answer:
The wide chimneys that are often seen in nuclear power plants are actually the **cooling towers** of the plant ¹.
Since nuclear power plants produce large amounts of heat, these chimneys are used to expel the water vapor evaporated by the waste heat to cool down the plant ¹.
The shape of the cooling tower is designed to maximize the area through which hot air from inside the tower diffuses and mixes with atmospheric air, so that more hot vapor is quickly mixed and the entire process of cooling is done more efficiently.
