Where are those 4 Nuclear Cooling Towers flying into ATL? (Atlanta: rail, title)

[architect77]

I know that I remember seeing 4 closely-spaced cooling towers somewhere south of Atlanta when I fly in and out of Hartfield. But looking online all I can find is 2 reactors south of Augusta. Am I losing my mind?

[AnsleyPark]

Not sure what you saw; however most power plants need cooling towers, particularly coal (of course, hydro doesn't). I do know we have a coal plant or two around town. All the nukes are near Augusta and Blakely.

[Adric]

I think you might be. I just looked up all operating nuclear plants in the US and there are none near Atlanta. GA only has four and they're all in south GA near Savannah.

NRC: Find Operating Nuclear Power Reactors by Location or Name

[DTL3000]

You may be thinking about Plant Bowen which is actually NW of Atlanta between Cartersville and Rome. It's coal fired but for some reason they use those nuke-looking cooling towers. I about flipped out when I rambled past it on a random drive(oh, when gas was cheap...).

Plant Bowen, Georgia Power Company, near Euharlee, Bartow County, Georgia 2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan_cressler/5010826262/ - broken link)

http://www.airphotona.com/image.asp?...e=&pagenum=386

[912]

Nope, there's a coal fired plant east of Forsyth, GA that can be seen from I-75. I bet those are the towers.

OR, I do believe there's a coal fired plant with cooling towers on the Chattahoochee north of Columbus.

[cwkimbro]

The other site that comes to mind is a coal fired plant north of Macon, south of MCdonough

Macon, ga - Google Maps

There is a good chance you might have seen this if you flew from further south, further west of north west and the plane looped south to land going east to west.

You can usually find these sites near reservoirs, rivers, and places with rail access.

The nuclear plant across the river from the Savannah River Site south of Augusta, Votgle, has cooling towers, but there are only two. Georgia other Nuclear plant doesn't have cooling towers and it is south of Vidalia. The ones in South Carolina and Alabama I don't believe have the -traditional- looking cooling towers. There is a plant near Chattanooga that has two towers.

There are a good many more, but most don't have cooling towers or only have one or two towers.

Cooling towers are just used for cooling. Therefore they are frequently used for different types of power plants. Inversely, many nuclear plants don't have cooling towers and have other cooling methods like a river with a high capacity river flow, a large reservoir, etc...

[DTL3000]

Originally Posted by 912

Nope, there's a coal fired plant east of Forsyth, GA that can be seen from I-75. I bet those are the towers.

OR, I do believe there's a coal fired plant with cooling towers on the Chattahoochee north of Columbus.

Probably so. I didn't know that one existed. I thought Bowen was the only coal plant with those types of towers.

[RainyRainyDay]

Every time I see the title of this thread, I get a mental picture of four cooling towers in flight.

[architect77]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

You may be thinking about Plant Bowen which is actually NW of Atlanta between Cartersville and Rome. It's coal fired but for some reason they use those nuke-looking cooling towers. I about flipped out when I rambled past it on a random drive(oh, when gas was cheap...).

Plant Bowen, Georgia Power Company, near Euharlee, Bartow County, Georgia 2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan_cressler/5010826262/ - broken link)

Airphoto - Aerial Photo: Large Power Plant, Bartow County, Georgia

Thank you, this must be what I was seeing over the years.

[mccarley]

[quote=cwkimbro;18534686]Georgia other Nuclear plant doesn't h river ave cooling towers and it is south of Vidalia. QUOTE]

Plant E. I. Hatch is on the Altamaha river 12 miles North of Baxley and has cooling towers. These towers are different compared to the type typically shown in every anti nuke ad. Plant Hatch's cooling towers have fans to supply the air flow. The tall type shown in most news articles are called natural draft towers and have no fans. Most power plants ,fossel or nuke ,have some type of cooling tower.