12-07: Fill Testing in Cooling Tower in Case of Fouling Issues

As a utility company, EDF operates 32 cooling towers in France. The cooling towers of EDF NPP are located in various places fed by rivers. They were designed to function with untreated raw water as make-up. Sometimes we are applying acid treatments of the circulation water, against scaling. Last years, some towers suffered from important fouling issues and we had to clean, to remove and sometimes to change fills. EDF has to do the right choice when retrofitting a cooling tower. EDF made tests on thermal performances thanks to Mistral Test facility and installed pieces of different types of packing in weighing machines onsite.