Nuclear Desalination Plant to beat water scarcity

Floating Vessel with Desalination System to Remove Salt from Seawater

Although oceans and seas envelop our planet, only 2.5% of the earth's water is fresh. With the increasing demand for drinking water, the invention of desalination plants is a blessing for the human race. These plants help in providing fresh water by removing the salt from seawater.

There are around 20,000 desalination plants worldwide. Most of the plants are located in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, with others in countries including the US, Brazil, China, South Africa, the UK, China, and Australia, to name a few. However, these desalination plants are considered among the most costly ways of producing drinking water. They pump large magnitudes across membranes at high pressure, an extremely energy-intensive process.

Core Power has devised a radical solution to overcome the problem: floating vessels equipped with desalination systems. These vessels are powered by nuclear reactors and can travel to coastlines or islands. They can be struck by drought and provide both drinking water and power. Mikal Boe, the chief executive of Core Power, said, "You could have them moving around on an intermittent basis, filling up tanks."

This new technology can reduce the water scarcity the planet will face soon without destroying much power. But the highly salted water left after desalination is very toxic to marine life as they already produce it in vast quantities.