Seawater desalination using nuclear heat/electricity — Prospects and challenges

The desalination of seawater using nuclear energy is a feasible option to meet the growing demand of potable water. Over 150 reactor-years of operating experience of nuclear desalination have been accumulated worldwide. Several demonstration programs of nuclear desalination are also in progress to confirm its technical and economic viability under country specific conditions, with technical co-ordination or support of IAEA. Recent techno-economic feasibility studies carried out by some Member States indicate the competitiveness of nuclear desalination. This paper presents the salient activities on nuclear desalination in the Agency and in the interested Member States. In particular, some data from the feasibility studies carried out in the two south Mediterranean countries — Egypt and Tunisia — for their nuclear power and desalination projects are presented. Economic research on further water cost reduction includes investigation on utilization of waste heat from different nuclear reactor types for thermal desalination, preheat reverse osmosis using condenser cooling water return as feed and hybrid MED–RO desalination systems. The details of these are discussed. The main challenge for the large-scale deployment of nuclear seawater desalination is the lack of infrastructure and resources in the countries affected by water scarcity problems which are, however, interested in adoption of nuclear desalination for the sustainable water resources in the coming years. Socioeconomic and environmental aspects and the public perception for the nuclear desalination projects are also important factors requiring greater information exchange. These aspects are discussed while considering an integrated nuclear desalination system.