Nuclear seawater desalination plants

Water desalination (generally, seawater desalination) can be performed by various processes, the most common being  

In both cases, the reactor which provides thermal or electric energy may be similar to those used for energy production, except that the power must match the water production rate. Some aspects connected with the desalination process which may be relevant to nuclear safety are  

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The concept of a nuclear seawater desalination plant is shown in Fig. 16. The sea water desalination plant is planned based on a two stage reverse osmosis system with a capacity of240000mVday x 7 lines by using a single 4S plant. The plant can be constmcted on a site of about 210m x 140m. 

A nuclear desalination system coupled with the SMART reactor has been developed by KAERI since 1996. The economic feasibility study and safety evaluation of SMART for transients imposed by the interactions with desalination system was completed. A one-fifth scale pilot plant is being constructed to verify performance and safety of the SMART reactor and to demonstrate relevance of the technologies applied for coupling of the nuclear and seawater desalination plants. 

A combination of nuclear power reactor and seawater desalination plant could be realized in a more economical way, since the higher is the temperature and pressure of steam used in a turbine, the lower is the cost of electricity produced. On the other hand, steam at low temperature and pressure is needed for fractional desalination, and the greater part of inputted heat is the latent heat of steam. Therefore, the power production and desalination systems may be advantageously combined. A 100 MWe FBNR when realized within a cogeneration plant for the production of both power and potable water could produce 70 MWe of electricity and... 

V. Murugan, K. Rajanbabu, S.A. Tiwari, C. Balasubramanian, M.K. Yadav, A.Y. Dangore, S. Prabhakar, P.K.Tewari, Fouling and cleaning of seawater reverse osmosis membranes in Kalpakkam nuclear desalination plant, Int. J. Nucl. Desal. 2,2006,172-178. 

ARl 64 Safety aspects of nuclear plants coupled with seawater desalination units. No. 1235,13 August 2001. 

The BN-350 nuclear power plant has been used for seawater desalination and electricity production for 23 years, the longest of any commercial liquid metal fast reactor (LMFR). During that time much has been learned about successful LMFR operation and design. The present paper describes some important design features of the BN-350 NPP and presents some performance results from the whole operational period. 

The world primary energy consumption amounts to well over 300,000 Peta joules and over half of that is used as hot water, steam and heat. Only a few nuclear power plants are being used for heat applications (district heating, heat for industrial processes, and seawater desalination). Potential nuclear heat applications include enhanced oil recovery, petroleum refining, petrochemical industries, and methanol production from hard coal. The need for potable water in some parts of the world is large, vital for sustaining development, and ever increasing. Clearly nuclear heat and power production could play a major and important role. 

The nuclear district heating plants (NDHPs) are intended for production of heat in the form of hot water for heating purposes only. The AST reactor plants can be used also for production of process steam of low temperature particularly for seawater desalination. The AST-500 is a 500 MWa, power plant, whose prime objective is district heating. 

V-2] PANOV, Yu.K., FADEEV, Yu.P., BARANEAEV, Yu.D., The water desalination complex based on the ABV-type reactor plant, Floating Nuclear Energy Plants for Seawater Desalination, IAEA-TECDOC-940, pp. 23-28, Vienna (1995). 

VI-9] POLUNICHEV, V.I., Prospects for the utilization of small nuclear plants for civil ships, floating heat power stations and power seawater desalination complexes. Status of Non-electric Nuclear Heat Applications Technology and Safety, IAEA-TECDOC-1184, Vienna 2000. 

XXIV-6] FAIBISH, R., Seawater desalination as a bottoming cycle for a hydrogen producing nuclear plant complex. International Youth Nuclear Conference (paper presented at Int. Conf, Toronto Canada, May 9-13, 2004). 

Assessments [XXVIII-5, XXVIII-6] show that the potential markets for small nuclear power plants with MARS type reactors already exist both in the Russian Federation (including district heating and other non-electric applications) and abroad, e.g. in certain developing countries that offer a large market niche for combined power supply and seawater desalination. 

The FUJI nuclear power plant (NPP) is designed to co-generate electricity along with hydrogen production and/or seawater desalination. 

PANOV YU.K, POLUNICHEV V.I., ZVEREV V.K., Use of reactor plants of enhanced safety for seawater desalination, industrial and district heating, Non-Electric Applications of Nuclear Energy, IAEA-TECDOC-923, Vienna (1997), p.281-293. 

The reactor is factory-fabricated and has no large or heavy components. The safety features of FBNR allow it to be built within or near urban areas. Long operation without on-site refuelling makes it appropriate for isolated remote places without infrastructure. FBNR could be the power source within a floating nuclear power plant. The reactor is equally appropriate for electricity generation, district heating, seawater desalination, process steam production or any combination thereof. 

The SMART is a nuclear power plant to supply energy for seawater desalination and electricity generation. A high safety level is emphasized. Enhancement of system reliability and the exclusion of probable human errors are key design principles for securing a high level of safety [1-5]. 

Potential applications for CA-CDI technology include the purification of boiler water for fossil and nuclear power plants, volume reduction of liquid radioactive waste, treatment of agricultural wastewater containing pesticides and other toxic compounds, creation of ultrapure water for semiconductor processing, treatment of wastewater from electroplating operations, desalination of seawater, and removal of salt from water for agricultural irrigation. 

In addition, the seasonal population of McMurdo Station continued to grow which increased the demand for water. For that reason, the US Congress in 1960 authorized the construction of a nuclear-fission reactor in order to provide power for the desalination of seawater. The components arrived on December of 1961 and were installed in a building that was erected at a site on the slope of Observation Hill above the station (Fig. 2.9). This reactor, which was put into operation in March of 1962, provided the power required to operate a desahnation plant that converted seawater into fresh water (Neider 1974). However, in spite of the technological snperiority of this process, water continued to be in short supply and had to be rationed. Matters came to a head when the representatives of the Antarctic Treaty Nations determined that the nuclear reactor violated the Treaty and therefore had to be shut down, dismantled, and all parts of it had to be removed from Antarctica. The Office of Polar Programs (OPP) did what was required and all radioactive waste was shipped to CaUfomia The nuclear installation was replaced by a desahnation plant that is energized by fuel oil. The capacity of the present facility based on reverse osmosis is sufficient to provide an adequate... 

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