Thermo-economic Assessment of the Possible Desalination Processes for the Second Block of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract

Nowadays, the problem of supplying fresh water to scarcer regions of the world is still acute. The seawater desalination has been touted as the main solution of closing the water gap in the Middle East and North Africa. However, seawater desalination is expensive and energy-intensive and influences the environment, extremely. Using nuclear power is a viable alternative energy resource to decrease the set of problems of consuming fossil fuels in the desalination plants. Iran, which is located in the arid belt of the eastern hemisphere, as a member state of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has announced his interest in the implementation of dual-purpose nuclear desalination in the existing nuclear power plant of the country. The Bushehr nuclear power plant is the first commercial nuclear reactor in the Middle East and can be used as a multi-purpose atomic complex to meet the demand for energy and supply of water to arid regions in the south of the country. This paper performs a thermo-economic assessment study for different desalination strategies in the second block of Bushehr NPP.