Alternatives of steam extraction for desalination purposes using SMART reactor

Customary, nuclear desalination in pressurized water reactors is performed using exhaust steam from the nuclear reactor secondary circuit. In this study, nuclear desalination using the SMART reactor is assessed for several different steam extractions in the nuclear reactor; the study is performed using exergetic and thermoeconomic analyses. The assessment considers the reduction of electricity generation due to the steam extraction at different positions of the secondary circuit of the nuclear reactor and the electricity cost implications in each case. Two thermal processes for desalination were considered in this study, namely the multiple effect distillation (MED) and the multi-stage flashing distillation (MSF). In both cases, the analyses were performed for “gain to output ratios” (GORs) of 5, 10, and 15. The proposed desalination plant capacity is given based on the fresh water obtained according to the amount of extraction. The economic analysis scenarios comprise four different discount rates of 3, 5, 7, and 10% for both the SMART reactor and the desalination plant. Results show an economic competitiveness and feasibility of nuclear desalination using the main steam line of the reactor. A gain to output ratio of 15 is the one producing the highest amount of water for all the extraction positions in both processes, MED and MSF, being the latter the one that offers the lowest water production cost between the two desalination processes assessed.