Russia Marketing Nuclear Desalination Tech

Rusatom Overseas, a state-run company that markets Russian nuclear technology, is planning to sell nuclear-powered desalination technology in foreign countries.

Dzhomart Aliyev, chief of the company, recently announced the plan, World Nuclear News reported.

"His words follow the 10 February agreement between Egypt and Russia to develop the design for a combined plant offering nuclear electricity as well as production of potable water through desalination," the report said.

World Nuclear News reported last month: "Rusatom Overseas and Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority have signed a project development agreement for a nuclear power plant with a desalination facility."

Nuclear power is framed as a way to make the energy-intensive desalination process cleaner.

"Most desalination today uses fossil fuels, and thus contributes to increased levels of greenhouse gases. Total world capacity in 2013 was 80 million m³/day (29,200 GL/yr) of potable water, in over 17,000 plants. A majority of these are in the Middle East and North Africa. Combining power generation and water production by desalination is economically advantageous and is widely used in the Middle East," according to the World Nuclear Association.

Russia is not alone in its focus on nuclear desalination technology. In March, "Seoul and Riyadh signed a deal to conduct joint research into [such] technologies, to minimize costs, while maximizing efficiency," Arirang News reported.

Kazakhstan is among the nations already harnessing Russia's nuclear desalination technology.

"The unique nuclear desalination facility that allows us to desalinate water in industrial-scale volumes is located in the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on the Caspian sea. The facility operated on the basis of three-circuit reactor BN-350 and produced up to 120 thousand cubic meters of fresh water per day. In accordance with the Russian construction rules and standards, average daily consumption of water in the cities is about 120 liters per person," according to the Russian government.

For more information about desalination, visit Water Online's Desalination Solution Center.