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Nuclear plants can run with those hyperboloid cooling towers as the sink for waste heat. They are just a lot more expensive to build, run and maintain compared to using river water.

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You still need water when cooling with towers. Instead of heating the river you consume some of its water and release it into the atmosphere.

Not TOO much loss tho, right?

I thought the cooling tower design helped maximize cooling and minimize loss as steam.

You try to maximalize evaporation. Evaporating water removes heat very efficiently with relatively small amount of water loss.

Short introduction into cooling towers:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tmbZVmXyOXM

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