Chapter 2.21 - Comparative Evaluation of Possible Desalination Options for Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract

The Akkuyu nuclear power plant, with a capacity of 4800MW, will be Turkey's first nuclear power plant and is expected to be commissioned in 2022. Recently, desalination has emerged as a potential combination to nuclear power plants because of the available process/waste heat from the nuclear power plants. Fresh water production by desalination systems requires electricity, heat, or both (electricity and heat). Cogeneration of electricity and fresh water makes such nuclear power plants more attractive and more feasible. Results of this study show that the possible expected water production capacity can exceed the 30m3/day depending on the type of the desalination system. Obtained results are based on the following parameters, including operational cost, construction cost, water selling capacity, unit cost of power generated, interest rates, efficiency of each part of the plant, etc. In order to implement such facility into a nuclear power plant, all of these parameters should be carefully taken into account. In this study, five different desalination options—multistage flash (MSF), multiple effect distillation (MED), reverse osmosis (RO), MED+RO, and MSF+RO—are considered for implementation and are compared with each other in terms of technical and economic parameters. The main parameter, which is used to evaluate all these options, is the potable water production cost along with other parameters. In this regard, a potential software package, so-called Desalination Economic Evaluation Program (DEEP), as developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is deployed to do the necessary calculations, comparisons, and evaluations under the real case scenarios that are considered for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. As a conclusion, the most feasible option is reverse osmosis desalination in terms of the unit cost for potable water and the payback period of the desalination system.