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[–] 2 points 1 month ago* (2 children)

The heated water is released back into the waterways and by extensions kills everything living there. This collapses the ecosystem and changes the water chemistry. This can result in contamination, invasive species taking over, etc... Do that on major water ways like the Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence and you fuck with people's drink water supply.

Only closed loop data centers are remotely feasible.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    The great lakes are already using lake water for cooling nuclear plants. That's what I was referring to when I said we already know the effects. It definitely effects the local ecosystem, but what that effect is depends on the body of water we are talking about. It's definitely nowhere near as simple as "kills everything living there".

    Ideally we would just quit building useless data centers all together, and this cooling question would be a moot point.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago*

    Yes, and nuclear power plants are built with the strictest oversight and environmental planning. Data centers are just built in industrial zones with minimal supervision.

    Do you think people live close enough to them for the noise to be a problem?

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