Integration of NuScale SMR With Desalination Technologies

Abstract

Nuclear energy plants are attractive energy source for large scale water desalination since the thermal energy produced in a nuclear reactor can provide both electricity and steam to desalt water without the production of greenhouse gases. A particularly attractive option is to couple a desalination plant with the new generation of nuclear plant designs: small modular reactors (SMR). This allows regions with smaller electrical grids and limited infrastructure to add new electrical and water capacity in more appropriate increments and allows countries to consider siting plants at a broader range of distributed locations. The NuScale SMR plant design is especially well suited for the co-generation of electricity and desalted water. The enhanced safety, improved affordability, and deployment flexibilities of the NuScale design provide a cost-effective approach to expanding global desalination capacity. Parametric studies have been performed to evaluate technical options for coupling a NuScale plant to a variety of different desalination technologies. An economic comparison of these options was performed for each of the different desalination technologies coupled to an appropriately sized NuScale plant capable of providing sufficient carbon-free electricity and clean water to support a city of 300,000 people.

An overview of sustainable energy development by using cogeneration technology and opportunity for improving process

“…As shown in Figure 4, a new generation of nuclear reactors utilizes up to 1000°C, so a large amount of heat dissipation of these reactors is appropriate for different process units. The use of heat or steam from nuclear power plants in the heating of crude oil, gasoline production, or petrochemical processes is one of the examples of cogeneration systems 61 . Alonso et al's studies showed that steam from the Pebble bed modular reactor could be used for heating of crude oil with more energy efficiency 62 .…”

Numerical Study on the Effects of Relative Diameters on the Performance of Small Modular Reactors Driven by Natural Circulation

“…SMRs can be used for multipurpose applications and may well be safer than large-capacity reactors [5][6][7]. Some specific applications of SMRs are ship propulsion [8], small-scale power generation [9], desalinization [10], and district heating [11]. In light of climate change and the Fukushima nuclear accident, stricter regulations for fossil fuels and strengthened safety requirements for nuclear reactors have been put in place [12,13].…”

Megaproject Management

“…Another key SMR advantage to consider is the possibility to have multiples units on the same site [8,12,20]. Other factors to consider in SMR economic and financial evaluation are: suitability for cogeneration [21][22][23][24], expected higher learning rate [10,25], better adaptability to market [8], equal or higher capacity factor than current LRs [26]. Once these factors are taken into account, the capital cost is comparable between the two technologies [27].…”