Introduction of Nuclear Desalination

1,41
MB

291
stron

4675
ID International Atomic Energy Agency

2001
rok

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION . 1

1.1. Objective 1

1.2. Scope 1

1.3. Overview of nuclear desalination 2

1.4. Technical, safety, economic and organizational aspects of Nuclear desalination . 4

1.5. Steps to introduce nuclear desalination by Member States 8

PART I. OVERVIEW OF NUCLEAR DESALINATION . 15

CHAPTER 2. STATUS AND PROSPECTS OF NUCLEAR DESALINATION 17

2.1. Introduction 17

2.1.1. Global water availability 17

2.1.2. Global water withdrawals 20

2.1.3. Water quality . 20

2.1.4. Importance of seawater desalination 23

2.1.5. Energy sources for desalination . 25

2.2. Potential role of nuclear reactors for seawater desalination . 25

2.3. Nuclear plants in operation and under construction . 27

2.4. Desalination plants in operation and under construction . 27

2.5. Status of nuclear desalination experiences and activities . 32

2.5.1. Experiences in Kazakhstan and Japan 32

2.5.2. Ongoing national programmes and activities . 33

2.5.3. IAEA activities . 36

2.6. Prospects for nuclear desalination 37

CHAPTER 3. NUCLEAR ENERGY FOR DESALINATION 39

3.1. Introduction 39

3.2. Survey of nuclear reactors in operation and under construction 39

3.2.1. Nuclear reactors for electricity generation . 40

3.2.2. Nuclear reactors for co-generation . 41

3.2.3. Nuclear reactors for heat generation 42

3.3. Survey of nuclear reactors under development 42

3.3.1. Design and development status of SMRs 42

3.3.2. Reactors with other than water coolants . 45

3.3.3. Barge mounted reactors . 46

3.4. Elements of the nuclear fuel cycle 46

3.4.1. Exploration, mining and milling of uranium 48

3.4.2. Conversion and enrichment of uranium . 48

3.4.3. Fuel element fabrication . 48

3.4.4. Fuel management in reactor operation 49

3.4.5. Spent fuel transport and storage . 49

3.4.6. Reprocessing of spent fuel . 49

3.4.7. Management and disposal of radioactive wastes . 50

3.5. Availability of fuel (supply and demand) . 50

3.5.1. Uranium resources 50

3.5.2. Uranium conversion and enrichment services . 52

3.5.3. Fuel fabrication . 53

3.6. Radioactive waste management 53

3.6.1. Categorization of wastes 53

3.6.2. Solid waste 54

3.6.3. Liquid wastes . 55

3.6.4. Gaseous wastes . 55

CHAPTER 4. DESALINATION PROCESSES . 56

4.1. Introduction 56

4.2. Common desalination processes . 57

4.2.1. Multistage flash . 57

4.2.2. Multi-effect distillation . 59

4.2.3. Vapour compression 61

4.2.4. Reverse osmosis . 62

4.3. Other technologies . 65

4.3.1. Freezing . 65

4.3.2. Ion exchange . 65

4.3.3. Electrodialysis 65

4.3.4. Low temperature vacuum evaporation 67

4.4. Hybrid desalination systems 67

4.4.1. Combination of RO with distillation processes 67

4.4.2. Combination of vapour compression with distillation processes . 69

4.4.3. Other combinations 69

4.5. Comparison of commercial desalination processes . 70

4.6. Technologies under development 70

4.6.1. Long tube vertical evaporator . 70

4.6.2. Orbital tube evaporators . 72

4.6.3. Long tube MSF . 73

4.6.4. Membrane distillation (MD) . 74

4.6.5. Solar powered MED . 74

CHAPTER 5. COUPLING OF NUCLEAR REACTORS WITH DESALINATION SYSTEMS . 75

5.1. Introduction 75

5.2. Technical descriptions of various coupling concepts 75

5.2.1. Desalination plant coupled to power reactors . 76

5.2.2. Desalination plant coupled to heating reactors 76

5.2.3. Desalination plant coupled to co-generation reactors . 80

5.3. Design requirements for the couplings 84

5.3.1. Safety 84

5.3.2. Design life . 84

5.3.3. Operational flexibility 85

5.3.4. Reliability/availability 86

5.3.5. Design limitations . 86

5.4. Operating experience with nuclear desalination . 86

5.4.1. Nuclear desalination systems at Aktau, Kazakhstan 86

5.4.2. Nuclear desalination plants in Japan 88

5.4.3. Nuclear desalination projects in India . 91

5.5. Operating Experience with nuclear district heating systems 91

5.6. Operating experience with nuclear process heat systems . 96

5.7. Relevant issues of nuclear heat applications 98

PART II. SPECIAL ASPECTS AND CONSIDERATIONS RELEVANT TO THE INTRODUCTION OF

NUCLEAR DESALINATION 101

CHAPTER 6. TECHNICAL ASPECTS 103

6.1. Introduction 103

6.2. Desirable technical features of nuclear desalination plants . 104

6.2.1. Some aspects of decision making processes 104

6.2.2. Importance of power to water ratio in selecting co-generation plants 105

6.3. Considerations for coupling with nuclear reactors 106

6.3.1. Backpressure and extraction schemes . 107

6.3.2. Other schemes 107

6.4. Technical protection measures against product water contamination, including monitoring and

isolation . 111

6.5. Reliability and flexibility requirements 112

6.5.1. Reliability, availability and quality assurance . 112

6.5.2. Flexibility . 114

6.5.3. Transients . 115

6.5.4. Design basis events 115

6.6. Floating nuclear desalination plants 116

6.7. Comparison of fossil and nuclear desalination 117

CHAPTER 7. SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS 119

7.1. Introduction 119

7.2. Radiation hazards from nuclear desalination systems . 121

7.2.1. Radiation hazards under normal operation . 121

7.2.2. Radiation hazards from nuclear power plant accidents 122

7.3. Safety issues in nuclear desalination 122

7.3.1. Nuclear reactor safety 123

7.3.2. Reactor safety considerations introduced by the addition of a desalination plant . 127

7.4. Regulatory and licensing aspects . 130

7.4.1. Regulatory codes and standards . 130

7.4.2. Licensing procedures and stages 131

7.4.3. Inspection and enforcement 131

7.4.4. Decommissioning of nuclear desalination facilities 131

7.5. Environmental effects of nuclear desalination systems 132

7.5.1. Non-nuclear environmental effects . 132

7.5.2. Nuclear environmental effects 133

CHAPTER 8. ECONOMICS OF NUCLEAR DESALINATION 135

8.1. Introduction 135

8.2 Product water cost and its components 137

8.2.1. Main factors influencing overall product water cost . 138

8.2.2. Design and planning parameters . 145

8.3. Cost evaluation methodology . 148

8.3.1. Single purpose plants . 148

8.3.2. Co-generation plants . 148

8.3.3. IAEA Desalination Economic Evaluation Programme (DEEP) 152

8.3.4. Other international methods 154

8.4. Reliability of cost estimates 155

8.5. Economic comparison with fossil fuel based desalination 156

8.6. Cost and price of water 158

8.6.1. Value of desalted water 158

8.6.2. Prices of water and power . 158

8.6.3. Cash flow, payback period and rate of return . 159

8.7. Financing 159

CHAPTER 9. NATIONAL REQUIREMENTS . 161

9.1. Introduction 161