Modelling and simulation of cogeneration nuclear power plant for seawater desalination

Nuclear desalination of seawater remains a very viable option to solving the perennial fresh water shortage problem along the coast of Ghana especially as Ghana prepares to install the first nuclear power plant. There is, therefore, the need for research to be conducted into nuclear seawater desalination technology as part of the nuclear power programme of Ghana so as to develop the needed human resources in Ghana. In this research, cycle analysis of the cogeneration nuclear power plant was conducted to determine its efficiency and desalination steam requirements. An analytical model of the thermal vapour compression (TVC) desalination process was also developed to investigate the effect of designed and operating parameters controlling the cost of producing fresh water from TVC process. Steady state mass and energy balances as well as empirical correlations derived from experiments were used to model the TVC, which was coupled to a Nuclear Heating Reactor (NHR - 200) to supply the needed steam for the desalination. The model was developed into a computer code, NUCDES, written in FORTRAN95 programming language. The results show that the thermal performance ratio (P.R) of the TVC desalination process improves with efficiency of the cogeneration nuclear power plant but decreases with increasing steam consumption rates. The model can be used to conduct a parametric study of the single effect thermal vapour compression desalination process and also the potential to enhance Research and Development in nuclear desalination technology as well as develop future human resources in the field of nuclear desalination. (au)