Question

A battle has erupted over a local power plant owner\'s decision to raise the power delivered by the plant from 203 MW to 579 MW (The delivered power accounts for energy losses). The local population is increasing, so the area needs more power. However, the plant expends its heated waste water* into the Frustration River; local citizens are concerned that the heated water will raise water temperatures to the point where the endangered river smelt will die from oxygen depletion. Local biologists called into the fray report that the smelt can only withstand an average increase of 3.44°C. The river is 212 ft wide at the point where the waste water is dumped, but the depth and cross section is not well known. Farther downstream, however, the water flows through a narrow man-made concrete channel of rectangular cross-section, which has a width of 84.7 ft and depth of 43.2 ft. The water flows through this channel at 10.4 mph. The power plant claims a planned efficiency of 36.10% for its new power plant design. Based on this information, what is the maximum power that the power plant can output without endangering the river smelt?

Answer 1