Nuclear power answer to fresh water shortage
|
| Posted
:
Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:03:03 GMT |
| By
:
IANS |
| Category
:
Environment |
| News Alerts by
Email ( click
here ) |
|
|
|
|
|
Mumbai, Nov 20 - By 2025, an estimated 3.5 billion people will live in areas facing severe water shortages -- and providing them potable water would be a challenge that may be best met by nuclear-powered desalination.This was one of the solutions presented at the recent Trombay Symposium on Desalination and Water Reuse here.This and other solutions discussed at the symposium have been published in a special issue of the International Journal of Nuclear Desalination.Climate change and desertification are already taking their toll on fresh water supplies. And in India, the rising population as well as rapid agricultural and industrial expansion will soon make water a rare and expensive commodity.Calling for a holistic approach to cope with freshwater needs, Pradip Tewari of the Desalination Division at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) said: 'The contribution of seawater and brackish water desalination would play an important role in augmenting the freshwater needs of the country.'Desalination is an energy-intensive process. Over the long term, desalination with fossil energy sources would not be compatible with sustainable development,' said Meenakshi Jain of Environmental Services and Positive Climate Care, a Jaipur-based company.Jain emphasised a sustainable, non-polluting solution to water shortages. 'Nuclear energy seawater desalination has a tremendous potential for the production of freshwater,' she added.Physicist S.S. Verma mooted the development of a floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) as a means to produce electrical energy with minimal environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.Such plants could be sited off areas with dense coastal populations and could not only provide cheap electricity but be used to power a desalination plant, he said.'Companies are already in the process of developing a special desalination platform for attachment to FNPPs helping the reactor to desalinate seawater,' Verma said.A. Raha, also of BARC's desalination division, said desalination technology utilising low-pressure steam from a nuclear power plant has been developed to produce high-purity water directly from seawater.BARC recently commissioned a 50 tonnes per day low-temperature desalination plant, he said. (c) Indo-Asian News Service
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related News
Hong Kong public says pollution worse but won't pay for cleaner air
Hong Kong - Half of Hong Kong people believe the city's air pollution is getting worse but most do not want to foot the bill for a cleaner environment, a survey found Monday. Almost 50 per cent of people questioned said the city's air quality had wor...
Three-Mile-Island nuclear plant leaks radioactivity
Washington - Nuclear safety officials moved Sunday to quell worries about a leak of radioactivity from Three Mile Island nuclear plant, saying that human safety was never endangered. The incident happened Saturday, when the Pennsylvania plant - the s...
Australians warned of 'catastrophic' fire danger
Sydney - More than 1,000 of Australia's volunteer firefighters were in action Saturday as crews battled 60 of forest blazes in the sweltering south-east where a decade of drought has left tinderbox conditions. A total ban on open fires was declared i...
UN offers rescue targets for troubled climate summit in Copenhagen
New York - Faced with prospects of failure in Copenhagen's climate change summit next month, the United Nations on Thursday cited key targets that could improve the chance of success in the talks on reducing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global...
Not much expected from Copenhagen, Indian environment minister says
New Delhi - Not much was expected from the climate change summit in Copenhagen except for a mandate to continue negotiations, Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Thursday. We need to be proactive, aggressive and ruthless in our domestic o...
Hong Kong shivers in coldest November in more than 120 years
Hong Kong - Hong Kong recorded its coldest November 18 in 120 years as a winter monsoon continued to send temperatures falling, weather experts said Thursday. Temperatures fell to 9.7 degrees Celsius in the sub-tropical city on Wednesday morning - th...
World population report links birth control to climate change
London - A slowdown in global population growth through contraception could help alleviate the rapid pace of climate change, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a report Wednesday. The 94-page State of the World Population Report 2009,...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
desalination with nuclear power
By:
John ,
Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:27:19 GMT
|
|
Fast spectrum reactors develop high temperature that can thermochemically separate hydrogen from water with 50+ percent efficiency, generate electricity and provide waste heat to desalinate water. There are estimates of 80% efficiency when multiple uses are coupled. Russia is experimenting with both fast neutron reactors and suggesting the floating reactor concept. We could help the poor people in the world with a major investment in generation IV nuclear technology. The gap between the rich and the poor could narrow and both poor and rich would benefit. Poor nations need potable water and energy to make goods.
|
|
Terrorism Target
By:
Wazmo ,
Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:33:54 GMT
|
|
That's all we need -- keeping undefended nuclear materials off the coast of major metropolitan areas. And once those cities become reliant on the power and water, it becomes the first to be attacked in time of war.
|
|
Nuclear power desalination option.
By:
Peter Karig ,
Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:06:46 GMT
|
|
I have in the past been against nuclear power, but with the alternative of using fossil fuels and global warming I am changing my tune.
|
|
Nuclear power
By:
Jeff ,
Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:35:26 GMT
|
|
How can you say nuclear energy is non-polluting? --- What do you consider the nuclear waste? Would you store it in your house?
|
|
|
|
|
