94-01: Drift Testing - Scale Up From Test Cell To Field Acceptance Test

In 1989 Florida Power Corporation (FPC) agreed to install helper-cooling towers at their Crystal River Generating Station to cool circulating water discharged to the Golf of Mexico. As a result of agreements with the environmental agencies a maximum allowable helper cooling tower drift rate of 0.002 percent was required, including compliance field-testing. An R&D drift-testing program was conducted in 1990 in a cooling tower test cell to confirm that the drift rate limit would be achievable when field-tested using EPA Method 5. The helper towers are now in commercial operation and recent field drift testing has validated the results of the R&D program.