Comparative assessment of CANDU 6 and Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors for nuclear desalination

A comparative assessment is reported of two systems for nuclear desalination. The systems use Reverse Osmosis (RO) for desalination and are coupled with either a CANDU 6 nuclear reactor or a Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR). Exergy analysis is used to assess the performance of the electric power generation and desalination processes, and overall system, for each of the systems, as well as the effects of varying significant design and operating parameters on the exergy efficiencies of the power generation process, desalination process and overall system. The cogeneration exergy efficiencies of the CANDU 6-based and SFR-based systems are found to be 32.8% and 36.8%, respectively, while the exergy efficiencies of the RO process for the CANDU 6-based and SFR-based systems are found to be 49.2% and 63.3%, respectively.