Abstract
The rising cost of fossil fuel, its uncertain availability and associated environmental concerns have led to a need for future desalination plants to use renewable and other sustainable energy sources, including nuclear. The desalination of seawater using nuclear energy is an option with a proven track record, with over 200 reactor-years of operating experience worldwide. Economic feasibility studies generally indicate that water costs from nuclear seawater desalination are in the same range as costs associated with fossil-fuelled desalination, at today’s prices. Different approaches utilising the waste heat from nuclear reactors have been proposed to further reduce the cost of nuclear desalination. Safety concerns have also been addressed in order to find the best solutions to guarantee high water quality levels and minimise the possibility of radioactive contamination. Nuclear desalination has thus the potential to be an important option for safe, economic and sustainable supply of large amounts of fresh water to meet the ever-increasing worldwide water demand.
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Misra, B., Khamis, I. (2009). Nuclear Desalination. In: Micale, G., Rizzuti, L., Cipollina, A. (eds) Seawater Desalination. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01150-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01150-4_5
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