Water Water: Are we looking at nuclear for the wrong reason?

AUTHOR: David Jarrett and Team Editor@ RDJ Publishing and RDJ Group ChiefExecutiveOfficer

When we look at issues related to utilities, we tend to see them in a singular fashion So, no surprise then that current discussions around water shortages and needs, no mention is made about telecommunications or electricity The best approach would be to treat the utilities therefore as a nexus

What brought this view about?

The “affordability” approach for projects using a least-cost metric is generally based on a singular off-take This can at the least be risky but combined with multiple off-take approaches, the earnings risk starts to be reduced, thus increasing the profitability of a project.

Water as we have been at pains to explain is an essential element for life in such a manner that the United Nations declares that we all have a right to water and sanitation with the ability to “access” without discrimination In response we currently have Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) for water (SDG 6) and efforts currently yield 73% of the world’s population uses a safely managed drinking water service (SDG indicator 6.1.1, 2022). Namibia using the same indicator, has an 86% access rate placing the country above the international benchmark

Scarcity, brought about by natural causes such as drought or need based demand that exceeds available supply provide society with enough motivation to look to technology for solutions. Rising sea levels, increasingly frequent flooding and droughts, and declining glacial and snow cover are all projected to frustrate access to sources of potable water Without solutions to mitigate these and other effects of climate change, water scarcity will increasingly pose a threat to quality of life on a global scale. The demand for fresh water for drinking and industrial use is not limited to landlocked countries, but also affects small island developing states and countries with large coastal territories

Enter desalination

Desalination is the process of removing salts and other impurities from seawater or brackish water to produce fresh water suitable for human consumption, irrigation, and industrial use. Desalination is energy-intensive, particularly Reverse Osmosis (RO) and thermal processes. In RO, seawater is forced through semi-permeable membranes that block the salt and other impurities, allowing only fresh water to pass through Advances in technology aim to reduce energy requirements While it presents challenges, including high energy use and environmental concerns, continuous improvements and innovations in desalination processes are enhancing its viability as a sustainable solution for global water needs

Nuclear power plants could offer a solution, while serving a dual purpose: producing low carbon electricity and turning seawater into fresh water. “The non-electric applications powered by nuclear energy, such as desalination, present sustainable solutions for a number of water-intensive endeavours from the consumption needs of millions of households and the industrial applications of fresh water to agriculture and livestock rearing that current and future generations will face,” said Francesco Ganda, Technical Lead for Non-Electric Applications at the IAEA.

Nuclear desalination plants, such as the Karachi Nuclear Power Complex in Pakistan, have been demonstrated as a viable option to meet the growing demand for potable water India, Japan and Kazakhstan have the most experience in nuclear desalination, with hundreds of reactor-years of successful operations. This solution provides a viable, cost-effective path to potable water for thousands of communities “Nuclear power plants could help meet the growing demand for potable water and provide hope to areas with acute water shortages in many arid and semi-arid zones,” Ganda added

“Desalination is considered the primary source of fresh water in Jordan to fulfil the expected demand and reduce the supply-demand deficit,” said Khalid Khasawneh, Commissioner for Nuclear Power Reactors at the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) The study found that using nuclear energy for desalination is feasible in Jordan

There are already around 20,000 desalination plants worldwide, almost all of which are onshore The majority are located in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, with others in countries including the UK, China, the US, Brazil, South Africa and Australia, to name a few In terms of cost, nuclear desalination is comparable to fossil fuel plants, with indicative costs ranging from 70-90 US cents per cubic metre. One promising strategy is to use power reactors to meet high grid load demands, while using excess electricity to power pumps for reverse osmosis(RO)desalination.

If Namibia decides to use nuclear power, then the best bet is to incorporate desalination into the mix so that water constrains are met in parallel with energy needs to ensure a “win-win” situation. Noting that it costs NamWater approximately 83 US cents per cubic metre, this is well within the cost profile of nuclear desalinated water costs globally

As always, the conversation continues infocus@rdjpublishing.africa

Readings: https://www unwater org/water-facts/water-scarcity https://www unwater org/water-facts/human-rights-water-andsanitation https://www sdg6data org/en/country-orarea/namibia#anchor 6 1 1 https://www iaea org/bulletin/harnessing-nuclear-power-fordesalination-to-secure-freshwater-resources https://profit pakistantoday com pk/2020/09/07/kanupp-ii-thermaltesting-completed-commercial-operations-from-next-year/ https://www bbc com/news/business-61483491 https://www aquatechtrade com/news/desalination/atomicpowered-decentralised-desalination https://www namwater com na/index php/about-us?start=7