Thermal discharge is continuously discharged into receiving water in nuclear power plants with once-through cooling water system, which might result in the waste of resources and surrounding water pollution. Therefore, the comprehensive utilization of thermal discharge residual heat is presented for nuclear power plants. The utilization ways of thermal discharge residual heat in nuclear power plants are analyzed and sequenced according to the comparison of their temperature parameters and thermal efficiency, in order to obtain the agricultural and industrial layout in nuclear power plants. The results show that either agricultural or industrial method is unreasonable for the utilization of thermal discharge residual heat in nuclear power plants; while the combined industrial-agricultural utilization of thermal discharge can improve the utilization efficiency of waste heat; and the way of choosing industry firstly can achieve the efficient utilization of thermal discharge residual heat. For industry, heat pump technology and the increase of thermal discharge temperature can be considered when the link between low-temperature users and middle-temperature users is established. For agriculture, the applications related to ocean, such as mariculture, seawater desalination and so on, should be chosen firstly.