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Nuclear power can be categorized as a clean energy source for producing electricity and supplying the required energy to a desalination plant, promising less atmospheric emission in comparison to fossil fuels. Considering the fact that fresh water-related issues are acute in many countries of the world, the utilization of desalination technologies seems to be the key solution to these problems. Desalination processes are known to be “energy-intensive”, emphasizing the potential advantages of its integration to a nuclear power plant in mediumto large-scale seawater desalination projects. The demand for electricity and fresh water in Iran compels the country to search for a feasible option. We suggest nuclear desalination as a suitable alternative, in which the recovered heat can be used in thermal desalination systems. In this article, the status of currently operating desalination plants and future developments are described. Several possible schemes for coupling nuclear power plant and fossil fuel-based plants with desalination technologies are suggested and some thermo-economic analysis (based on the specific characteristics of the country) are presented. Results of calculations reveal some advantages of nuclear desalination complex and its competitiveness with other options. It should be noted that the research has been conducted by cooperation of two SPbPU PhD students with Iranian citizenship.

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.

In order to provide favourable conditions for the crop growth and freshwater for irrigation, a novel integrated system of brackish water greenhouse desalination (BWGD) with return air is proposed. A one-dimensional steady-state model of the proposed BWGD has been developed to investigate sensitive analysis of factors based on orthogonal test method. The thermal stratification phenomena caused by the return air divides the internal space of the greenhouse into the crop layer and internal air layer. Both the favourable temperature of the crop layer and optimal freshwater production can be satisfied by merely regulating the most significant factors of inlet brackish water temperature and flow rate of condenser while the air temperature and relative humidity at the conditions of the optimal freshwater production does not favor the crop growth in the classical BWGD. The maximum freshwater production does not occur at 11 am when the solar radiation is the greatest due to the thermal stratification phenomena. The freshwater production of 1,118 L/d outweighs the total irrigation demand of 1,082 L/d. The proposed BWGD, which is an important step forward towards improving the performance of BWGD, provides innovative solutions to the problems of water for agriculture and the crop growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]