6. Conclusion

The industrial management of water by nuclear power plant operators has an economic aspect, as with any industrial activity, but above all it responds to environmental constraints that are increasingly acute in the current climate. In essence, it must meet three interrelated challenges:

• Limiting freshwater withdrawals;

• limiting the temperature rise in freshwater rivers;

• limiting discharges into these natural waters, including seawater.

These three main objectives overlap, as global warming means that freshwater resources are becoming increasingly scarce, or at least irregularly available, and that their temperature is rising, which in turn means that we need to limit the quantities of water withdrawn and the temperature of the water returned...