Computational analysis of nuclear desalination system under various configurations

Abstract The research addressed the economic evaluation of nuclear energy, coal, oil and natural gas in various cycle configurations with different distillation technologies. A comparison between fossil and nuclear energy sources is discussed. A comprehensive review of all desalination plants using fossil and nuclear energy with cogeneration is also included and discussed. Computational model was used to evaluate nuclear and non-nuclear desalination plants. Four possibilities were discussed. In this first case, a nuclear gas cycle integrated with a MED desalination plant was found to have the lowest cost in the gas cycle. While the nuclear steam cycle integrated with RO has the lowest cost compared to oil and natural gas. In the third case, the combined nuclear cycle was discussed and it was found that the combined nuclear cycle associated with RO has the lowest cost. In the last case, the evaluation of a heat-only desalination plant was conducted among all sources, and it was found that the nuclear plant with RO and MED has the lowest cost. In addition, the completed nuclear desalination plant was subjected to five scenarios to calculate and estimate at which capacity the plant provides the best values. The results show that nuclear desalination with gas cycle is the most economical among the oil and natural gas options.