Nuclear desalination: history and prospects

Both nuclear and desalination technologies are mature and proven by experience, and are commercially available from a variety of suppliers. From the early days of the two technologies, it was realized that the power of the atom could be utilized to overcome two of the challenges to the development of mankind, namely sustainable supply of electricity and water. As early as in the 1960s, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and individual countries carried out several technical and economic feasibility studies to investigate the utilization of nuclear energy for seawater desalination. The assessments performed for these studies indicated that nuclear desalination would be technically feasible and economically competitive with fossil and renewable energy in a range of situations. However, coupling of nuclear reactor and desalination processes involves a number of issues that have to be addressed. These include safety of the nuclear plant and prevention of radioactive contamination of product water, assurance of potable water supply during reactor shutdown, as well as economic and financing issues. The objectives of this paper is to present the status of nuclear desalination and its prospects for implementation, through comprehensive review of historical development, recent studies and R&D activities, as well as the main issues confronting nuclear desalination and approaches to address them.