Patent ID: 8745985

Claim:
A steam power plant, comprising: a cooling system which comprises a first cooling circuit, a second cooling circuit and a third cooling circuit, wherein the first cooling circuit comprises a condenser to condense steam, and a first pump to pump a first cooling fluid through the condenser in order to cool the condenser, the third cooling circuit is a closed cycle cooling circuit that utilizes a second cooling fluid to cool down at least one component that is different from the condenser, and the second cooling circuit comprises a heat exchanger that thermally couples the first cooling fluid and the second cooling fluid and utilizes the first cooling fluid in the heat exchanger to cool down the second fluid, and a second pump to pump the first cooling fluid through the second cooling circuit independently from an operation of the first pump, wherein the first cooling fluid that flows through the second cooling circuit is directed into the first cooling circuit at a hot part of the second cooling circuit, and directed to flow through the condenser in reverse direction when compared to the flow direction caused by the first pump or directed to flow through the condenser in forward direction when compared to the flow direction caused by the first pump.