China signs water deal for nuclear power plant

Greifenberg, Germany-based inge watertechnologies AG said today it signed a water-process agreement with China for one of the country's six nuclear power plants currently under construction (see Nuclear power is green power, says expert).

The nuclear power plant is designed to generate 600 megawatts of electricity and is described by officials as one of the first nuclear power plants using leading-edge technology.

It also is one of the first nuclear power plants to utilize Inge watertechnologies AG’s dizzer 5000plus modules. Each module is capable of treating 5 cubic meters per hour.

Several hundred treatment modules will do the bulk of the work in treating 26,000 cubic meters of seawater (6.9M U.S. gallons) for the reverse-osmosis desalination process (see Energy Recovery scores another desal contract).

The Hongyanhe nuclear power plant is projected to cost $2.88 billion and is expected to be completed by 2011. The plant is under construction in the Liaoning province about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the port of Dalian, according to the Chinese government.

Researchers have been working on ways in which desalination technology can be married to nuclear power plants to reduce the overall energy consumption.

More specifically, scientists say low-temperature evaporation (LTE) desalination technology is able to utilize waste hot water (50 Celsius) or low-pressure steam from a nuclear power plant to achieve these objectives. In combination, the energy-recycling approach offers a viable avenue for producing freshwater from seawater.

Predictions of water shortages across China and the globe are significant. Water researchers say that more than 3.5 billion people will live in areas facing severe water shortages by the year 2025.

The German water purification company previously completed a wastewater treatment plant for Beijing International Airport prior to the Olympic games.

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