Process technologies for water desalination

The use of the nuclear energy for simultaneous electricity and potable water production is an attractive, technically feasible and safe alternative to fossil energy options. In Argentina the nuclear desalination option is being studied together with the alternative uses of the innovative advanced Argentinean CAREM reactor, in a research contract between CNEA and the IAEA to evaluate projects of nuclear desalination. This paper analyses the benefits and drawbacks of each desalination technology, the distinctive characteristics of the technology that fit better the different uses, and outlines the related antecedents of its application in the world. In this report a summarized description of those technologies is included by way of introduction, so as to highlight the main advantages and disadvantages of each of them. The improvements and innovations made in the last years for the different technologies are also described. (author)