THE LARDERELLO (TUSCANY PROVINCE) GEOTHERMIC ELECTRIC POWER PLANT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00423R002000150011-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 21, 1999
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: January 1, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Releaq&200Di#F$D 83-00423,RJ02000150 11-1,
?5X1X
DISSEMINATED BY Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation
National Defense of the United States within the
PREPARED AND -O- F- D --N-T..I_A_L meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title 18, U.S.C.
INFORMATION REPORT This material contains information affecting the
SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR ADDITIONAL SPECIAL CONTROLS, IF ANY
of which in any manner to an unauthorized per.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
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son Is prohibited by law. 25X1 A
Italy
The Larderello (Tuscany Province) Geothermic
Electric Power plant
1. The Larderello geothermic electric power plant in Tuscany Province utilizes
the superheated steam geysers which intermittently spout from the od.
These steam geysers have been exploited for many years to obtain basic acid
from them. The composition of the gases is:
95.5 _ % - pure steam water
0.035 % - basic acid
0.4 ._ % - carbon dioxide
remainder - mainly hydrogenerated carbides and ammonia; and
a very small amount of the rare gases of the at-
mosphere, including argon, helion, neonand crypton.
2. The steam, underground, reaches a pressure of 67.5 pounds per square inch and
a temperature of 18500, which are always constant.
3. A first attempt to obtain electric power from the steam geysers was started
early in 1904; in 1932 the power installed was 14,770 KW; and in 1939 it was
60 thousand 11W. The whole plant was completely destroyed during World War
II, but in 1948 a new 150 thousand KW installation was built, which is also
the present (1950) capacity. However, plans and developments are being made
in order that an annual production from 10 to 20 billion Kfwill eventually
be reached.
4. Originally the steam, collected by simply sinking a pipe into the ground,, was
brought directly to the turbines, the efficiency being 1 KWh per 42 pouns of
steam. Later on, it was carried to special boilers, or "heat exchangers",
where it was used to heat up pure water at a lower pressure, thus producing
steam to supply the turbines. The efficiency by this method was improved
up to 31 pounds of steam per KWh.
5. At present (1950) the steam, having been sucked by a vacuum pump, is fed into
a condensing turbine. Such a proceeding is rather expensive, as far as ma-
chinery is concerned, but the efficiency is brought up to 22 pounds of steam
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 Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP83-00423R002000150011-1
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Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP83-00423R002000150011-1