Feasibility study of desalination plant powered by SMR

The aim of the paper is to assess the feasibility of nuclear desalination, which will be obtained using both electricity and heat generated by nuclear power plant to remove salt and minerals from seawater. The integration of a water desalination plant into a small and modular nuclear power plant is described by considering a combination of a variety of seawater desalination co-generation configurations/ techniques (thermal or membrane in single or hybrid mode) to show they are successfully coupled with SMRs (of different types) to produce water and electricity at different scales. Running SMRs as base load plants is more economical and simpler than requiring them to follow load. Therefore, in a cogeneration mode and while grid load is low, they may run at full capacity even if their capacity exceeds water demands. The proposed solution was numerically investigated from both thermodynamic and economic points of view using the Desalination Economic Evaluation Program (DEEP) software made available by the IAEA. The study highlights the role of factors such as site characteristics, plant capacity, feed/product-water quality, energy costs, in affecting the economics of desalination regardless of the energy source used. The economics of nuclear desalination has been found to be competitive with other desalination techniques driven by other sources of energy. Results show that e.g., for an average per capita electricity consumption of 4.7 MWh/year and 80.3 m3/year of water, the CAREM25 reactor coupled to a desalination plant could produce electricity for 35,000 inhabitants and water for domestic use for 200,000 inhabitants.