Arrocampo Reservoir

The Arrocampo Reservoir,, is located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain.It was created at 1976 to refrigerate the turbines of the Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant. The nearest municipalities are Almaraz, Romangordo, Saucedilla and Serrejón. The dam is on the Arrocampo River, very close to where this little river joins the Tagus.The Arrocampo reservoir as system to refrigerate the Almaraz Nuclear PlantThe refrigeration of the Almaraz nuclear power plant was the first reason for the construction of the reservoir. The water is taken from the Tagus and cover a U-shaped circuit of 25 km which allows the cooling of the heat generated by the two nuclear reactors of the plant. (See the illustration of the water circulation in Arrocampo) (...) The walls of thermic separation (pantallas de separación térmica in Spanish) (PST) are 11 km long and 8 m high (...). The tops of these walls are used by great cormorants and great egret as standing, resting and sleeping areas.The Arrocampo reservoir as a wetlandBiomass (ecology): biomass of reservoir waters is very important on all trophic levels.-Phytoplankton and zooplankton (...)