A nuclear desalination complex with a VK-300 boiling type reactor facility

RDIPE has developed a detailed design of an enhanced safety nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) with a VK-300 boiling water reactor for combined heat and power generation. The thermal power of the reactor is 750 MW. The maximum electrical power in the condensation mode is 250 MWe. The maximum heat generation capacity of 400 Gcal/h is reached at 150 MWe. This report describes, in brief, the basic technical concepts for the VK-300 NSSS and the power unit, with an emphasis on enhanced safety and good economic performance. With relatively small power, good technical and economic performance of the VK-300 reactor that is a base for the desalination complex is attained through: reduced capital costs of the nuclear plant construction thanks to technical approaches ensuring maximum simplicity of the reactor design and the NSSS layout; a single-circuit power unit configuration (reactor-turbine) excluding expensive equipment with a lot of metal, less pipelines and valves; reduced construction costs of the basic buildings thanks to reduced construction volumes due to rational arrangement concepts; higher reliability of equipment and reduced maintenance and repair costs; longer reactor design service life of up to 60 years; selection of the best reactor and desalination equipment interface pattern. The report considers the potential application of the VK-300 reactor as a source of energy for distillation desalination units. The heat from the reactor is transferred to the desalination unit via an intermediate circuit. Comparison is made between variants of the reactor integration with desalination units of the following types: multi-stage flash (MSF technology); multi-effect distillation horizontal-tube film units of the DOU GTPA type (MED technology). The NDC capacity with the VK-300 reactor, in terms of distillate, will be more than 200,000 m³/day, with the simultaneous output of electric power from the turbine generator buses of around 150 MWe. The variants of the desalination technologies applied are compared, based on economic estimates performed. Acceptable values of the distillate cost have been obtained.