Nuclear desalination: a viable option for producing freshwater

Abstract

A comprehensive overview of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA's) activities in the area of nuclear desalination (i.e., the production of freshwater via seawater desalination using nuclear energy as the thermal and/or electrical energy source) is provided. Past, present and future activities and projects are discussed, with emphasis on practical past experience in Member States around the world and current plans for present and future nuclear desalination operations. Of particular interest is a new nuclear desalination demonstration plant in Kalpakkam, India (6,300 m 3/d hybrid RO-MSF plant coupled to aPressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR)), which is scheduled to be commissioned sometime in 2003, and plans for the accelerated implementation of another nuclear desalination demonstration facility (4,500 m 3/d MED coupled to a PH WR) in Karachi, Pakistan. Other related activities are also presented, including a technical overview of feasible coupling configurations of nuclear energy sources and desalination processes as well as assessment of economic competitiveness of nuclear desalination with conventional desalination operations. The overall intent is to demonstrate that production of potable and other grades of water to supplement the increasingly scarce water resources around the world is an option that should be considered by coastal countries, which are suffering or will soon suffer serious water shortages.