Des Moines Register
03-20-07
As water grows scarce, nuclear power can help
By CAROLYN D. HEISING
IOWA VIEW
Because nuclear power produces large amounts of energy without emitting
global-warming gases, it is drawing increasing attention. But it also can play a
key role in dealing with another environmental problem that we can't afford to
ignore: water shortages.
Few things are more important than fresh water. And until a few years ago, few
things seemed more basic. In the Midwest, we've had an abundant supply of
water for so long, we've taken it for granted.
But the prolonged drought in large parts of the Midwest and elsewhere has
reminded us that ensuring an adequate supply of water is never simple, not when
water tables in some places have dropped more than a foot in the past decade.
Water scarcity is making it more difficult for farmers to grow crops and ranchers
to feed livestock. The situation is being exacerbated by increasing needs for
water to support industry, ethanol production, urban development and growing
populations.
Nor does the end of the water crisis seem in sight. Severe water shortages in
California and Texas have produced conditions that are being compared to those
of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. In the spirit of every little bit can help, I have a
modest suggestion: Use nuclear power to desalinate seawater.
The idea, of course, isn't new. It was proposed in the early days of nuclear power
more than a half-century ago, principally as a solution to California's water
problem and as part of a settlement of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The idea
eventually caught on elsewhere.
Eight nuclear reactors coupled to desalination projects are operating in Japan.
India has a nuclear reactor that's being used to desalinate water, and Pakistan is
building one. In addition, Russia has about 16 small desalination plants installed
on nuclear ice-breakers and other nuclear-powered ships.
And every U.S. nuclear submarine is equipped with a desalination system to
provide potable water.
While all of these systems provide pure water for limited use rather than largescale consumption, they are successfully demonstrating that nuclear energy is a
viable alternative to fossil fuels as a heat source for the process.
Now, there are many reasons to make greater use of nuclear power for
desalination, but the principal one is that only nuclear reactors are capable of
providing the copious quantities of clean, emission-free energy required for largescale desalination projects. By contrast, fossil-fuel desalination plants — and
there are about 7,500 such plants in operation worldwide — pollute the air and
load the atmosphere with large amounts of carbon dioxide.
Advances in nuclear technology have made it easier and cheaper to supply the
heat needed to desalinate water. Some nuclear plants could serve a dual
purpose: provide a source of potable water that could be transported long
distances by pipeline to wherever it's needed, while also generating electricity.
It's not a question of whether nuclear desalination plants will be built in the United
States; it's a question of when. It is impossible to deny that the worsening water
shortage is costing the nation billions of dollars annually. Carping about declining
water tables is not a viable strategy.
CAROLYN D. HEISING is a professor of industrial, mechanical and nuclear
engineering at Iowa State University.