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STATE OF CALIFORNIA
DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
DIVISION OF RESOURCES PLANNING
BULLETIN NO . 93
S E WATER DEM INERALIZATION
ENERGY IN THE
WATER PLAN
EDMUND G. BROWNGoooo oo Director ofWater Resources
December, 1 960
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
DIVISION OF RESOURCES PLANNING
BULLET IN NO . 93
SAL INE WATER DEM INERAL IZATION
AND NUCLEAR ENERGY IN THE
CAL IFORNIA WATER PLAN
EDMUND G . BROWN HARVEY O . BAN"S
G Director ofWater ResourcesOOOO OO
December, 1 960L I B RA R 1
Courtesy Floor Corporat ionFro ntispiece
Mode l of the co nceptua l desig n of the one million ga llo n -per-da y demon
stra tion sea wa ter co n ve rsio n pla nt a t Sa n Diego .
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
ACKNOWLEDGMENT .
ORGANIZATION , DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
ORGANIZATION, CALIFORNIA WATER COMMISSION
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS .
SYNOPS IS .
GLOSSARY. 0 O 0 O O O 0 O O O O 0 0 O O O O O 0
CHAPTER I . DEVELOPMENT OF STATE INTEREST INWATER DEMINERALIZATION ANDNUCLEAR ENERGY
Pre fa ce
Hi s to ry
Ob j e ct ive s and A ct iv it ie s
Po s s ibl e Future Effe ct on theCal ifornia Water Plan
CHAPTER II . SALINE WATER DEMINERALIZATION
Hi stori cal Ba ckground
Pre s ent Statu s o f A ct ivity inSal ine Water Convers ion
Convers ion Plant s Now in Cal i fornia .
Inst itut ions Engaged in Re s earch on\Sal ine Water Convers ion .
Conference s and Sympo s i a
S ea Water and Bracki sh Water Chara cteri s t i c s .
S ea Water Characteri s t i c s .
Extract ion of Mineral s
Bracki sh Wat er
De s irabl e Water Qual ity .
Energy Re quirement s for S ea Wate r Convers ion .
Minimum Energy Re quirement s .
Cl a s s ifi cat ion of Pro ce s s Energy
Methods o f Converting S al ine Wat erto Fre sh Water .
Di s t il l at ion Pro ce s s e s
S impl e Di s t i ll at ion
Ne eds
Mult ipl e - e ffe ct Di s t il l at ion .
Fla sh Di s t ill ation .
Vacuum Fl ash Di s ti l l at ion
Super- crit i cal Di s t ill at ion
Vapor Compre s s ion Di s t il l at ion .
Sol ar Di s t il l at ion .
Free z ing Pro ce s s
Membrane Pro ce s s e s
El e ctrodialys i s
Revers e Osmo s i s
Other Convers ion Pro ce s s e s
Ion Exchange .
S eparat ion by Solvent s .
Pre c ipitat ion
Algae Experiment s
Department o f Water Re source s A ct iv it ie s .
Department o f Water Re source sOffi ce o f Sal ine Water Cooperat ion
Department of Wa ter Re source sUnivers ity o f Cal ifornia Cooperat ion
Enginee ring Study Contra ct s .
i i
4 C
Re s earch and Development Programs by theOffi c e o f Sal ine Water , Department o f theInterior .
S cal e and Corro s ion .
Long - Tube Vert i cal Di s t il l at ion .
Rotat ing S t il l
Dropwi s e Condensat ion Heat Trans fer .
Low Temperat ure Difference Fla sh Di st il l ation .
So lar S t il l .
Membrane Re s earch for Ele c t r odialys i sand Osmo s i s .
Free zing Pro ce s s
I on Ex ch a nge 0 0 0 O 0 0 O 0 0 O O o 0 0 0 0 0
Organi c So lvent .
Appl i cat ion to Nuc l ear Energy .
Demonstrat ion S ea Water Conv ers ion Pl ant s
Co s t
Long - Tube Vert i cal Di st il l at ion Plant - Texas
Mult i s tage Fla sh Evaporat ion Plant - Cal ifornia
El e ctrodialys i s Plant - South Dakota .
Vapor Compre s s ion Di s t il l at ion PlantNe“, I‘IeXi CO o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Free z ing Pro ce s s P 1 ant - North Caro l ina
E st imate s for S ea Water Conve rs ion
Es timated Pre s ent Co s t s o f Convert edSal ine Water
Predi ct ed Future Co s t o f Converted
s al ine ‘Nater 0 0 O O 0 0 O 0 0 O 0 0 0 0 Q 0
s um r y 0 Q Q 0 O 0 O O 0 O 0 O O 0 0 O O O 0 C 0 0
CHA PTER III . NUCLEAR ENERGY
Introduct ion and Hi s to ry .
Fundamental s of Nu cl ear
The Atom
I sotope s
Fi s s ion .
Fus ion
Energy . 0 o o o o o o o
O 0 O 0 0 O 0
O O O O 0 0 O O O O OO 0 0 O 0 C O O O O 0
Nucl e ar Rea ctor Con cept s .
General Cons ide rat ions
Pre s suri zed Wat er Rea cto r .
Bo il ing Wat er Reacto r .
Organi c Moderated Rea ctor .
Sodium Graphit e Rea cto r .
Ga s Coo l ed Reacto r 0 O 0 0 0 0 O O 0 O O O
Homogeneous Reactor .
Fas t Breeder Reacto r
Other Type s o f Rea ct o rs .
Nucl ear Power Co s t s
Pre s ent Co s t s .
Future Co st s
Capital Co st s .
Fuel Co s t s
Nuc l ear Energy for
I sotope Appl i cat ions .
0 0 0 0 0 O
O 0 O O O O 0 O O 0 0
0 O O O O O O O O 0 0
O O 0 O O O0 0 0 O 0 O 0 O 0
S al ine Water Convers ion
Ut il i zat ion of Radioact ive I so tope s .
Princ ipl e s o f So il Mo i s ture andDens ity Measuring Dev i ce s
Vegetat ive Water Us e S tudie s .
Land Sub s idence
Ground Wa te r Re charge
Compact ion Contro l .
Snow Measurement s
I so tope s a s Tracers .
S e epage Studie s
Flow S tudie s .
Po s s ibl e Us e of S tabl e I sotope s .
Po s s ibl e Us e s o f Underground Nucl earExpl o s ions 0 0 0 0 O 0 0 O 0 0 O 0 O 0 0 0
Summary
CHAPTER IV . NONCONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES .
Introduct ion .
So lar Energy .
Te chnique s for Solar Heat Ut il i zat ion .
Te chnique s for So lar Light Util i zat ion
Geothermal Energy
Wind Power .
Ut il i zat ion o f Wa s t e Heat
Marine Energy
Thermal Energy
Tidal Energy
Mis c e l l aneou s Energy Sourc e s .
sumrna'r y 0 O 0 0 O 0 0 0 O O O 0 0 O O O O O O O 0
TABLES
Ma j or S ea and Bracki sh Wat er Convers ionPlant s 0 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 0 Q 0 O 0 0
Countrie s Engaged in Sal ine Wate rDemineral i zat ion Re s earch .
Conference s and Sympo s ia ConcernedWith Sal ine Water Demineral i zat ionPro ce s s e s .
Concentrat ion of El ement s in S ea Wat er
Approximate Amount of Mineral s in OneCub i c Mil e o f S ea Water .
United Stat e s Publ i c Heal th S ervi ceDrinking Water S tandard s 1 946 .
Qual itat ive C l a s s ifi c at ion of Irrigat ionxqa te r s O 0 0 0 O 0 0 0 O 0 0 0 0 O O 0
Type o f Energy Re quired for VariousConvers ion Pro ce s s e s
C l as sifi cat ion of Convers ion Pro ce s s e sBas ed on the Variat ion o f EnergyRe quirement Wi th Init ial Sal inity .
Co s t s o f Converted Wat er Ba s ed on theOperat ion o f Exi s t ing Plant s
Es t imated Co s t o f Di st il l at ion - Typ e S eaWater Convers ion Pl ant s o f Variou sCapa cit ie s
Es t imated Co st s o f Demons trat ionConvers ion Plant s .
Repre s entat ive Es t imate s o f Pre s entBra cki sh Water Convers ion Co s t s byEle ctrodialys i s Pro ce s s .
Re lat ive Quant it ie s o f Energy Containedin One Pound o f Various Mat erial s .
General Data on Nucl ear Power Reacto rsin the Unit ed Stat e s and the Brit i shCommonweal th
Est imated Nuc l ear Power Co st s inAtomic Energy Commis s ion ' sI O- Year Program .
Average So lar Radiat ion on aHo ri zontal Surfa ce
Typi c al Di fference s o f TemperatureBetween Surfa ce and Sub surfa ceS ea Water .
Typi c al Tidal Ra nge s Along theCoa s t o f Cal ifornia .
FIGURES
Mode l o f the Conceptual De s ign o fthe One Mil l ion - Gal lon - Per- DayDemonstrat ion S ea Water Convers ionPlant at San Diego
S impl e Di st ill at ion .
S impl e Di s t il l at ion with Re - u s e o fHeat from Condens er and HeatExchanger .
Mul t ipl e - Effe ct Di st il l at ion
Two Stage Va cuum Flash Di s t ill at ion .
Mul t i s tage Fla sh Evaporat ion Pro ce s s
Mul t i s tage Fla sh Evaporation Pro ce s sPowered by a Nu c l ear Rea cto r
Southern Cal i fornia Edi son CompanySea Water Convers ion Unit atMandalay Bea ch
Experimental Va cuum Fla sh Di st il l at ionPlant at the Ri chmond Fie ld St at iono f the Univers ity o f Cal ifornia .
Super— crit i cal Pro ce s s
Vapor Compre s s ion Pro ce s s .
S O l a-r St il l 0 0 0 0 0 0 Q 0 O 0 O 0 0
Experiment a l So l ar Di s t il l at ionAp paratu s at the Ri chmond FieldStat ion o f the Univers ity o fCal ifornia
Free zing Pro ce s s
El e ctrodialys i s Pro ce s s .
The Bra cki sh Water Convers ion Pl antat Coal inga , Cal ifornia .
Atom and Mo l e cul e Mode l .
Fi s s ion Chain Rea ct ion
So il Mo i s ture Probe .
Geothermal S team Power Pl ant at theGeys ers , Sonoma County , Cal ifornia
vi i i
S TATE O F CAL I FO RN IA
Departmentof Mater fla tmates
S AC RAMENTO
De cember 30 , 1 96 0
Honora bl e Edmund G . Br own , Gove rnorand Member s of th e Legi s lature of theS tate of Cal ifornia
GentlemenI have the honor t o tran smit herewith Bul l et in
No . 93 of the State Department of Water Re s ource s ,ent itl ed
“Sal ine Water Demineral izat ion and Nucl ear Energy
in The Ca l ifornia Water Plan" .
The variou s pro ce s se s u sed in produc ing fre shwater from the o ce an s , and the pre s ent and predi cted futureco s t s for the mo s t promi s ing pro ce s s e s are de s cribed inthi s bul le t in . The po s s ibl e appl i cat ion of nuc l ear energyt o s e a water convers ion and to the ene rgy dema nd for pumpingwater suppl ie s de ve l oped by the State Water Fa c il it ie s aredi s cus s ed .
Although no s al ine wa ter demineral izat ion te chn ique ye t de ve l oped can compete with the co st s of l arges cal e de ve l opment of natural s ource s of wate r in Cal ifornia ,i t i s probable that s al ine water convers ion pl ant s wil l havea de finite pl a ce in the water program . The Department ofWate r Re s ource s wil l cont inue to take a definite and cont inuing intere st in tho s e area s of re search and de ve l opment tha tma y have promi se of e ventual ly produc ing l ow c o s t c onvertedwater .
The s tudy of the appl i cat ions of nu c l e ar energy tothe various a spe ct s of the problem of de ve l opment of apra ct i cal and e conomic wate r program i s of prime importanceto the wel fare of thi s State . The De partment of Water Re
s ource s wil l ma inta i n cont inued and de ta il ed surve il lance ofde ve l opment s in thi s field and the ir appl i cat ion to waterde ve l opment and di s tribut ion .
Honorable Edmund G . BrownGovernor , e t a l De cember 30 , 1 960
The i nforma t ion pre s ented i n th e report s h oulds e rve a s an orientat ion t o the comp lex problems of s e a waterconve rs ion and the appl i cat ion of nuc le ar ene rgy to Ca l if or n i a 's water need s .
HARVEY 0 .
Dir e ctor
ORGANIZATION
DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
Harvey 0 . Banks Dire cto r o f Water Re source sJame s F . W r ight . Deputy Dire cto r o f Water Re source sWil l iam L . Berry . Chie f Engineer ,
Div i s ion o f Re source s PlanningIrvin M . Ingerson . Chief , Engineering S ervi c e s BranchOswald Spe ir . . Chie f , Wat er Ut il i zat ion S e ct ion
Thi s report wa s prep aredunder the dire ct ion o f
Mauri ce B . Andrew Staff Hydro - Me chani cal Engineerand Supervi so r , Appl ied Nucl ear Engineering Unit
b y
Albert A . Ko ch . . Superv i s ing Hydraul i c Engineer
A s s i s t ance wa s furni sh ed by
Robert M . Bu ckwa l t er A s so c iat e Me chani cal EngineerIrving Goldbe r g A s so c iat e So il s Spe c ial i s t ( Radi o l og i c )Frank S . Davenport . . A s s is tant Hydraul i c Engineer
Port er A . Towner . Chief Couns elPaul L . Barne s . Chie f , Divi s ion o f Admini s trat ionI sabel C . Ne ss l er Coordinator o f Repo rt s
ORGANIZATION
CALIFORNIA WATER COMMISS ION
JAMES K . CARR,Ch a irman , S acra mento
WILLIAM H. JENNINGS , Vi ce Chairman , La Me sa
JOHN W . BRYANT , Rivers ide JOHN P . BUNKER,Gu st ine
IRA J . CHRISMAN ,Vi sal ia GEORGE C . FLEHARTY,
Redding
J . KING , Pet a luma VOLK,Lo s Angel e s
MARION Ventura
GEORGE B . GLEASONChie f Engineer
WILLIAM M . CARAHExe cut ive S e cretary
xiii
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
The Sub committ e e on Water Pro j e ct Us e s for Atomi c
Power o f the A s s embly Interim Commit te e on Cons ervat ion ,
Planning,and Publ i c Works ( As s emblyman Ja ck A . Beaver ,
Chairman ) , creat ed by Hous e Re so lut ion No . 88 , 1 957 , submi tt ed
a part ial repo rt to the 1 958 Se s s ion o f the Legi s l ature . The
sub committe e at the t ime re commended that
”l . The Department of Wat er Re source s give added
impetu s to it s program o f evaluat ion and s tudy o f nu cl earenergy in rel at ion to the pump l ift requirement s o f theFeather River Pro j e ct .
”
2 . The Department o f Water Re source s give ful lcons ideration to the impl i cat ions for Cal ifornia o f thesal ine water convers ion l egis l at ion before the Congre s sand be prepared to re commend an appropriat e cours e ofaction in thi s regard to the 1 959 S e s s ion o f theLegi s l ature .
"
3 . The Univers ity o f Cal ifornia , with due regardfo r it s educat ional and bas i c re s earch re spons i b il it i e s ,
att empt to conc entrat e it s effo rt s i n nucl ear and sal inewater convers ion re s earch into channel s mo s t l ikely tobe o f pra ct ic al u s e to the S tat e a s a whol e .
4. The Legi s l ature support reasonabl e augmentat ions to the programs o f the Department o f Water Re sourc e sand the Univers ity in the s e fi elds .
"
5 . The Committ e e shoul d cont inue to a ct ivelymonito r th e exi s t ing stat e programs in the s e fiel ds andcontinue it s study o f the be st pro cedure s to b e fol l owedby the S tate in it s approach to the s e problems .
"
Created by Hous e Re so lution No . 234, 1 957 , the
Sub committ ee on Water Pro j e ct Power o f the A s s embly Interim
Committ ee on Cons ervat ion Pl anning , and Publ i c Works
( As s emb l yman Ja ck A . Beaver , Chairman ) , carried on the wo rk
init iat ed by the prede ce s sor commi t t ee and submitt ed it s final
rep ort ( Vo lume 1 3 , Number 27 o f A s s embly Interim Committ ee
Report s 1 957 In that report , the committ e e re commended
xiv
"
1 . Cont inued l egi sl at ive support for the programso f the Department o f Wat er Re source s and the Univers ityo f Cal ifornia in the field s o f sal ine water convers ionand nu cl ear energy source s for water pro j e ct s .
"
2 . Immedia te financ ial part i c ipat ion by the S tat ein a jo int federal - s tat e program To r the construct ionand operat ion o f a demons trat ion plant for the convers iono f s ea water on the Cal ifo rnia coa st .
"
3 . Int ens ified effort on the part of the Department of Wa t er Re sourc e s and the Univers ity o f Cal iforniato p rovide t e chnolog i cal solutions to the probl ems po s edby the pot ent ial energy cri s i s .
"4. Cont inuat ion o f a l egi s l at ive commi tt ee a s asource o f information and o f coordinat ion o f the variou sa spe c t s o f the probl ems .
"
In support o f the fo rego ing re commendat ions , the
Legi s l ature appropriated funds to the Department o f Wa t er
Re sourc e s for inve st igat ions o f sal ine water convers ion and
po tent ial u s e s o f nuc l ear power source s a s fol lows
Studie s and
1 958 - 1 9 991
1 959 - 1 9601 960 - 1 96 1 21 7 ,A1 2
Appropriat ions to the Univers ity o f Cal i fornia for
re s ea rch in sal ine water convers ion have been a s fol l ow s :
F i s cal years 1 952 through 1 958
Fi s ca l year 1 959Fi s cal year 1 960
_l / For a cooperat ive federal - s tat e s ea water convers iondemonstra t ion pl ant : ( a ) Engineering studie s
( b ) Inve s t igat ion , pl anning , and constru ct ing convers ionpl ant 0 0 0 .
SYNOPSIS
This bul l et in de s cribe s the variou s phas e s o f the
Stat e 's int ere s t in nu cl ear energy and water demineral i zat ion
as init iat ed through the work o f two l egi s l at ive sub committ ee s
created by Hous e Re so lut ions No . 88 and No . 234 in 1 957 . The
Department o f Water Re source s commenc ed a l ong - range programin the fal l o f 1 957 fo r the s tudy and evaluat ion o f the prob
l ems of nucl ear ene rgy and s al ine water convers ion , as they
apply to the water probl ems o f Cal ifo rnia .
The hi s to ry , the princ ipal demineral i zat ion te chnique s ,
the pre s ent and probabl e future wat er co st s , and re s earch and
development programs , both federal and s tat e , are de s crib ed
and di s cus s ed .
The convers i on o f sal ine wat er has b een pro ved to
be te chni cal ly feas ibl e , through th e suc c e s s ful development of
a number of pro ce s s e s . The great e s t ob sta cl e to it s more
wide spread appl i cat ion to day i s it s rel at ively high co s t and
much effort i s b eing dire ct ed toward redu c ing co s t s . It i s
ant i c ipat ed that mo s t redu ct ions wil l be brought about by
gradual improvement s in effi c iency , mo re effe ct ive s cal e and
co rro s ion control , bett er heat t rans fer , and cheaper mat erial s
and fabric ation te chniques . Al so a breakthrough to lower
co st s may o c cur , perhap s a s the re sul t o f a pro ce s s no t yet
known or envi s ioned . However , convers ion o f s ea and bracki sh
water in the fo re s eeabl e future wil l no t b e abl e to compete
in co st with l arge - s cal e devel opment o f the Stat e 's natural
water re source s . The co s t s o f s ea water convers ion alone ,
exc luding transpo rtat ion to pl ac e s o f u s e , are e s t imat ed to
xvi
l ie in the range of two to five time s the currentl y e s t imat ed
co st s o f wat er suppl ie s made avail abl e by the Stat e Water
Fa c il it ie s .
The pre s ent statu s and future po s s ib il it ie s o f
nucl ear energy appl i cat ions are reviewed and di s cu s s ed and
the princ ipl e s o f fi s sion and fus ion rea ct ions are de s cribed .
It i s indic at ed that el e ctri cal and me chanical power produc ed
by nucl ear devi c e s wil l , within the coming 1 0 to 1 5 years ,
b e come e conomi cal ly comp et it ive with power produced by hydro
el e ctri c and fo s s il fuel generat ing pl ant s . Therefore , it
may be expe cted that nucl ear energy wil l have a marked e ffe ct
on the future development of the Cal i forn ia Wat er Plan ,
e spe c ial ly fo r el e ctri cal and me chani cal power for pumping .
The type s and po s s ibl e us e s o f s o - cal l ed"non conven
t i on a l source s o f energy are reviewed and di s cu s sed . It i s
not anti c ipated , however , that su ch source s o f energy wil l
have an important immediat e influence on the current program
fo r l arge— s cal e development of the Stat e 's wat er re sourc e s .
The future program of the Stat e in the devel opment
o f water demineral i zat ion and nu cl ear energy appl i cat ions i s
di s cus s ed . It i s concluded that , al though pre s ent wat er
demineral i zat ion te chnique s are no t yet compet it ive with the
e conomie s a chieved in the l arge - s cal e development o f natural
water re source s in Cal ifornia , it i s probabl e that sal ine
water convers ion pl ant s may have a definit e pl a c e in the future
wat er program . The Department of Wat er Re source s ha s a
definit e and continuing int ere s t in tho s e a spe ct s o f re s earch
and development that give promi s e o f produ cing fre sh wat er
xvi i
s upp l i e s .a t reasonabl e co s t . The Department o f Water Re source si s al s o increa s ingly involved in the s tudy of the appl i cat ion s
o f nucl ear ene rgy to the devel opment o f a pract i cal and
e conomical water program .
xvi ii
El e ctron Vo lt ( ev ) . The unit energy us ed in nu cl ear phys i c s .
T e energy a c quired by an el e ctron when ac c el erated
through a pot ent ial o f one vol t ? x Btu .
Fo s s il Fuel . A general name for tho s e fuel s ( for exampl e ,
Fuel C ell . A source o f energy by oxidat ion by el e ctro - chemi calmeans at mo re or l e s s ordinary t emperature s , as oppo s edto combust ion .
Gamma Rays . A product o f radioact ive di s int egration : highlypenetrat ing el e ctromagnet i c wave s o f s imil ar nature tox - rays , but o f short er wavel ength .
Heavy Wat er . Deut erium oxide . It s chemi cal propert ie s arenearl y the same as tho s e o f no rmal wat er , but it i s about1 0 percent den s er and has s l ightl y higher me lt ing andbo il ing po int s . It cons t itut e s about one part inof ordinary water .
Ion . An atom or group o f atoms el e ctri call y charged by thel o s s or gain of one or more el e ctron s . It s migrat ionthrough an el e ctrolyte or a gas cons t itut e s the transpo rto f el e ctri c ity . Each ion c arrie s one or more el e ct ri ccharge s e qual to it s chemi cal val en ce .
I sotope . A variety of an el ement whi ch has the s ame number0 el e ctrons and therefore the s ame chemi cal propert ie s ,
but a different ma s s .
Kilowatt . The usual unit of el e ctri cal power , be ing equal to0 0 watt s . A common s i ze e l e ctri c l ight bul b consume s
1 0 0 watt s or kil owatt .
Kilowatt - hour . The usual unit o f el e ctri cal energy . It i se amount o f energy consumed when one kil owatt i s u s ed
fo r one hour .
Ma s s Number . Th e number o f protons and neutron s in the nucl eu s0 an atom , ac count ing for almo s t the whol e o f the mas s o fthe atom .
Mev . One mil l ion ev .
mw. Megawatt , one mil l ion watt s .
Mill . One tenth of a cent .
Nu cl eus . The co re o f an atom about whi ch the el e ctrons revolve .
is co mpris ed of protons and neutron s and has a po s it ivecharge e qual to the number o f protons .
Neutron . A const ituent o f the atomi c nucl eus having the samema s s a s a pro ton , but no el e ctri c charge .
Proton . A cons t ituent o f the atomi c nu cl eu s having a po s it ivecharge e qual to that o f an el e ctron , but about t ime sgreater mas s .
S emi - conducto r . A material int ermediat e between metal s andnon - metal s , and capabl e o f pas s ing an el ectri c currentunder certain condit ion s .
S tage . For the purpo s e s o f thi s report , a stage i s a compartment or ve s s el in whi ch the s ea water i s evaporated andthe fre sh water i s condens ed in the same compartment .
S everal stage s conne cted in s erie s is t ermed mul t i stage .
Trit ium . An i sotope o f hydrogen having atomi c mas s 3 .
CHAPTER I . DEVELOPMENT OF STATE INTEREST INWATER DEMINERALIZATION ANDNUCLEAR ENERGY
Pre fac e
Within the pas t s everal de cade s , thoughtful indi
v i dua l s and group s throughout the wo rld have b een deepl y
concern ed with means o f meet ing , in arid and s emiarid regions ,
the ever- increas ing dema nds for fre sh water for muni c ipal it i e s ,
irrigation , and indust ry . The fea s ib il ity o f convert ing s ea
and bra cki sh wat er has , as a cons e quenc e , be en re ce iving mo re
and more at tent ion as a po s s ibl e medium for meet ing the s e
inc reas ing dema nds . In the Unit ed Stat e s development o f
e conomical convers ion pro c e s s e s i s b e ing v igorous ly pursued by
federal and s tat e agenc i e s and by privat e groups . Abro ad ,
methods of convers ion are b eing s tudied in at l eas t 1 5 countrie s
in Europe under the sponso rship o f the Organi zat ion of European
Coope rat ion , and in other regions o f the wo rld , l argely under
the encouragement of Unit ed Nations Educat ional , S c ient ifi c ,
and Cul tural Organi zat ion ( UNESCO ) , and by individual government s
and privat e int ere st s .
Thi s bul l et in outl ine s the hi s to ry and pre s ent s tatus
o f sal ine wat er convers ion and de s cribe s the act ivit ie s o f the
Department o f Water Re source s in thi s field and al s o in the
field o f nucl ear and o ther nonconvent ional power sourc e s required
for demineral i zat ion pro c e s s e s and for pumping o f l arge vol ume s o f
wat er . Other appl i cat ions o f nucl ear phenomena , su ch as radio
i sotope s and the po s s ibl e u s e of nucl ear explo s ive s , are al so
de s crib ed .
Hi sto ry
Both the Cal ifornia Legi sl ature and the Department o f
Wat er Re source s have , fo r a number o f years , ful ly real i zed the
impl i cat ions to the intere s t s o f the S tat e in the fiel d s o f
water demineral i zat ion and in the appl i cation o f nucl ear energy
to the solut ion o f wat er probl ems . The Legi sl ature has been
a ct ive in thi s fi el d , and the Sub committ ee on Wate r and Power
of the A s sembly Committ ee on Cons ervation , Pl anning , and Pub l i c
Works , unde r the chairmanship o f A s s emblyman Ja ck A . Beaver,
has conduct ed many po l i cy s tudie s on the s e sub j e ct s .
The department has ins t itut ed a cont inuing program
of cooperat ive a ct ivity with the Univers ity of Cal i fo rnia , the
Federal Government , and other o rgani zat ions , fo r the inve s t igat ion and study o f promi s ing l ine s o f re s earch and development
in the fiel ds o f sal ine water convers ion and nucl ear energy .
The department i s al so engaged in an apprai sal o f the po s s ibl e
impa ct o f s c ient ifi c advanc e s on the future pl anning of the
Stat e 's wat er development program . Bo th the department and the
Univers ity o f Cal ifornia , unde r a dire ct ive o f the Legi s l ature
and by it s appropriat ion of funds , have expanded and expedit ed
s tud i e s , a nd re s earch and development a ct ivit ie s in the s e fi el ds .
In 1 958 , the department consummat ed cooperat ive
agreement s with the Univers ity of Cal ifo rnia and with the
Federal Offi c e o f Sal ine Wat er . Both agreement s have ope rat ed
to the cons iderabl e mutual benefit o f the s c ient ifi c - t e chni calprograms .
With regard to the department 's cooperat ive agreement
with the Univers ity o f Cal ifo rnia , the ro l e o f the Univers ity
i s to give ma j or att ent ion to the l e s s wel l - devel oped methods
o f s al ine water convers ion , conduc t ing theo ret i cal and l abo ratory
re s earch and experimentat ion with small p ilot pl ant s where
deemed de s irabl e . The department , on the o ther hand , may carry
c erta in s eemingly promis ing pro ce s s e s into the eng ineering
development s tage when and if condit ions warrant .
Ob j e ct ive s and Act ivit i e s
The ob j e ct ive s and corre sponding ac t ivit i e s o f the
Department o f Wat er Re source s are dual in nature . They are be ing
dire ct ed to the determinat ion o f ( l ) feas ibl e and e conomi cal
development s in s al ine water convers ion pro c e s s e s , and ( 2 ) the
means by whi ch appl i cat ions o f nuc l ear and other more noncon
vent i ona l s ourc e s o f power ma y be empl oyed in the fo rm of heat
o r el e ctri c ity to supply the energy needed to creat e addit ional
suppl ie s o f fre sh water by demineral i zat ion from o c ean o r
bra cki sh wat er source s , o r as pumping power in the conveyance o f
l arge quant it ie s of natural fre sh wat ers .
To suc ce s s ful ly ac compl i sh the above ob j e c t ive s with
minimum co s t and t ime , mutual awarene s s o f the probl ems b etween
the s c ient i s t and eng ineer , and the c it i zens in general are
required , a s i s cl o s e , cont inuous , coordinat ed effo rt s o f both
group s . Thi s is a trend that has b e en increas ingly empl oyed
with suc c e s s in o ther compl ex te chnologi cal fiel ds by both the
Federal Government and privat e industry during the pa s t hal f
c entury .
Up to the pre s ent t ime , the ac t ivit i e s of the depart
ment in s al ine water convers ion have be en s ix - fold , vi z1 . To a cquire al l po s s ib l e knowl edge conc erning
exi s t ing and po tential pro c e s s e s .
To a s so c iat e and cooperat e with publ i c and
privat e agenci e s conduct ing re s earch and
devel opment .
To co l l e c t and anal yze te chni cal and co s t data
concerning convers ion pl ant s now in operat ion
or to be cons truct ed .
To inve s t igat e nucl ear energy and o ther power
source s su ch a s so l ar , wind , t idal , geo thermal ,
was t e indus trial heat and the l at ent therma l
energy o f the s ea .
To inve s t igat e and pl an in spe c ifi c area s fo r
the appl i cat ion o f s ea and bracki sh wat er demin
e r a l i za t i on pl ant s and nuc l ear energy fo r pumping
purpo s e s .
To cooperat e with the Federal Government in de s ign
and construct ion o f a demonst ration s ea water
convers ion plant at San Diego .
Ob j e ct ive s for the immediat e future include a s s i s tanc e
in the cons tru ct ion of the San Diego demonstrat ion s ea water
convers ion pl ant , cont inuat ion o f engineering s tudie s on one o r
more promis ing convers ion pro ce s s e s , a study on the appl i cat ion
of nu cl ear powe r to pumping in the Cal ifornia Aqueduc t Sys tem,
and inve s t igat ion of addit ional appl i cat ion s o f radio i s otope s
in department Operat ions .
The forms and po s s ibl e u s e s o f s e - cal l ed non conven
t i ona l source s o f en e r gy i l / indi cat e that u s eful appl i cat ion
to water development i s unl ikely . It i s not expe ct ed that the
u s e s o f the s e unu sual source s o f energy can have e ither an
unexpe cted o r an important infl uenc e on the cours e o f l arge
s cal e development of the Stat e ' s wat er re source s .
.1/ Energy derived from source s other than fo s s il fuel s o rnucl ear energy .
CHAPTER II . SALINE WATER DEMINERALI ZATION
Introduct ion
The rapid growth o f popul at ion and the paral l el
int ens ive indust rial i zat ion and urbani za t ion , c reat ing an
increa s ing need for agri cul tural produc t s in Cal ifornia and in
o ther area s o f the world , have generat ed a very act ive intere s t
in the po s s ib il it i e s o f e conomical ly d emi n e r a l i z i ngl / s ea and
bracki sh water .
Nature , in the fre sh water re covery phas e o f the
hydro logi c cycl e , rel ie s on so l ar energy to evapo rate eno rmous
q uant it ie s o f water from the o ceans and inl and s ea s . Un f o r
tun a t e l y , however , due to maldi s tribut ion of natural p r e ci p i
t a t i on and , in some pl ace s due to heavy popul at ion and rel at ed
urban and indus trial devel opment , many areas o f the globe are
defi c i ent o r are rapidly be coming de fi c ient in fre sh water
suppl ie s . Su ch i s the cas e in the s emiarid and arid regions
o f T Centr a l and Southern Cal i fornia .
The convers ion of sal ine wat er into wat er po tabl e to
man and us eful to agri cul ture and indust ry i s no t new , and a
number o f methods o f ac compl i shing convers ion have been
deve l oped . Of the s everal methods , di s t il l at ion i s the ol de s t
and i s l ikely the re sul t o f man ‘ s imitat ion o f nature ' s own
convers ion pro ce s s as repre s ented b y the hydro l ogi c cycl e .
_1/ In thi s bul l et in ,
"demineral i zat ion and convers ion are
u s ed interchangeably .
In thi s cycl e,radiant energy from the sun in the fo rm o f heat
evapo rat e s pure water from the surfac e o f the sal ty o cean s .
Subs e q uent meteorologi cal pro ce s s e s caus e the condensat ion and
pre c ipitat ion o f atmo spheri c mo i s ture onto the surface o f the
l and,foll owed by s eepage o f the water into the ground o r con
veya nce by streams and rivers into re s ervo irs , l ake s , o r o ceans .
Crude di s t il l at ion te chnique s fo r the purifi cat ion o f
chemical s probably antedat e writt en hi s to ry . However , spe c ifi c
appl ic a t ions to the product ion o f pure wat er , for ph a rma ceut i
cal purpo s e s , appear to hav e come at a mu ch l at er t ime . In
1 683 , an Engl i sh pat ent wa s i s sued to a man named Fit zgeral d
fo r a method of swe et ening sea water . Thereaft er , o c cas ional
referen ce s to di s t il l at ion of s ea water appear in the l it erature ,
unt il the advent of the s teamship in the ninete enth c entury
when dis t il l a t i on on shipboard be came fairl y common .
The ea rl ie s t and l arge s t di s t il l at ion pl ant e spe c ial ly
de s igned to p r oduce po tabl e wat er from bracki sh suppl ie s was
const ruct ed in the high Atac ama De s ert o i o r th e r n Chil e , at
La s Sal inas , in 1 872 . Ext en s ive s il ver mining operat ions were
t hen in progre s s and al l fre sh wat er , prior to that t ime , had
to be haul ed great di s t anc e s . The La s Sal inas pl ant wa s a
g l a s s covered sol ar s t i l l encompa s s ing an area of about
acre s . It produc ed a maximum O f gal l ons Of fre sh wat er
per day . On the bas i s Of pri c e s preval ent in tho s e days the
total capital co s t including the di s t il l er , windmil l s , pumps ,
piping , and tanks was report ed to be Thi s pl ant wa s
in cont inuous Operat ion for a period Of 30 years .
- 8
The u s e O f di st il l ed wat er on s teamship s , produced
by condens ing s t eam from the ve s s el ' s bo il ers , a l so date s back
to the l 88o 's and thi s method has been increa s ingl y empl oyed
at s ea during the pre s ent century to produce drinking and
boi l er make - up water . Di st il l at ion e q uipment on ship s ha
el iminated the ne ce s s ity of conveying fre sh wat er betwe en po rt s ,
and has re sul t ed in increa s ed cargo Spa ce . Al l l arge mode rn
ship s are e quipped with fre sh water di st il l at ion equipment .
Land bas ed sea water convers ion pl ant s in operation
or under construct ion throughout the world now have a to tal
fre sh wat er product ion capabil ity o f about 24 mil l ion gal l ons
p er day , o r roughly e quival ent to the fre sh wat er demands o f
an average Cal ifornia city having a populat ion O f aboutA de cade ago , the to tal inst al l ed capac ity wa s l e s s than two
mil l ion gal lons per day , which con s i st ed princ ipall y o f the
pl ant s l o cat ed in Curacao and Aruba . Pro ce s s e s o ther than di s
t i l l a t i on were studied during thi s early period , b ut l ittl e
pra cti cal appl i cation resul t ed .
The firs t pl ant s cons tru ct ed in the We s t Indie s , at
Aruba and Curacao , were to provide water fo r dome s ti c us e .
Pre c ipitat ion in the s e two i sl ands i s l imit ed in q uant ity and
o c curs only during a sho rt annual rainfal l period . The
topography i s su ch that l ittl e O f the runo ff i s ret ained on
the surfac e and the avail abl e ground wat er suppl ie s are s cant .
The only al t ernat ive source o f fre sh water wa s that import ed
by tankers operat ing from South Ameri can port s .
9
During World War II , portabl e water di s t il l ing unit s ,
both for purifying the s ea wat er and fo r the purifi cat ion of
bracki sh inl and waters , were vital ly needed by the armed s ervi ce s .
Thi s need wa s l argely met by the u s e o f the Kl e ins chmidt type
O f vapor compre s s ion di st il l at ion unit , whi ch wa s produced in
relat ively l arge numbers . The s e unit s , unfo rtunatel y , had
smal l capac iti e s and they produc ed water at extremely high co s t .
However , they were both compact and vers at il e . S ince 1 945 , the
s ame princ ipl e ha s been app l i ed at remote armed force s ba s e s
where no fre sh wat er i s obtainabl e exc ept by expen s ive s ea tran s
port . Exampl e s o f su ch l o cat ions are Gre enl and in the Nor th
Atl anti c , Wake I sl and in the Pac ifi c , and Turks I s l and in the
Bahama s . More re cently thi s type o f unit ha s b een ins tal l ed
on some off - shore o il dril l ing pl at forms ( Texas towers ) .
S everal years ago , when the She ikdom of Kuwait , on
the Arabian Gul f , undertook the devel opment o f ext ens ive o il
fields there aro s e a need fo r l arge suppl ie s o f fre sh wat er .
To supply thi s need , di s t il l ing pl ant s with an instal l ed capa
b i l i ty in exce s s O f mil l ion gal lons per day have be en con
s tru cted . The s el e c t ion Of the type o f pl ant con struct ed wa s
influenced by the avail ab il ity o f rel at ivel y inexpen s ive O i l a s
a fuel .
As another exampl e , in 1 955 the government O f Aruba ,
Netherl ands We st Indie s , was fac ed with the probl em O f a growing
popul at ion and increa s ed wat er and power needs . A compre
h en s i ve e conomic and engineering survey was made O f al l known
t e chni q ue s O f s ea wat er convers ion . After con s iderat ion o f the
_ 1 0 _
variou s al t ernat ive s , a combined s ea water convers ion and
e l e ctri c generat ing pl ant wa s s el e ct ed . With thi s comb inat ion ,
fre sh water and power could be pro duc ed from the one pl ant with
higher e conomy than with two separate pl ant s .
Pre s ent Statu s o f A ct ivity inSal ine Water Convers ion
In the years s inc e Worl d War II , the number Of l arge
l and bas ed s al ine water convers ion pl ant s ha s b een on the increa s e .
The l arge s t plant s were cons truct ed in arid areas where fre sh
wat er was s carce and fuel was pl ent iful . A s mo re experience
was gained in sal ine water convers ion , t e chni cal advanc e s made
po s s ibl e the reduct ion in co s t o f converted wat er . Many countrie s
began to act ively engage in sal ine wat er convers ion re s earch
programs with h Op e s of solv ing their water shortage probl ems .
In order to fa c il itat e the exchange o f informa t ion among
c ountrie s and among workers in the field , the Unit ed Nat ions
Educat ional , S c ient ifi c , and Cul tural Organi zat ion ( UNESCO ) con
ducted a number o f conference s , a s did pro fe s s ional and govern
mental agen cie s , part i cul arly i h the United Stat e s .
The number o f land b as ed sal ine wat er convers ion i h
s ta l l a t i on s in Operat ions i s growing rapidly . Fo r exampl e ,
pl ant s re cent ly have b e en o rdered o r compl eted in such widely
s eparated area s a s Ecuado r , Bermuda , S t . John , Virgin I sl ands ,
Kuwait,Aruba
,Curacao , and Pe ru . Tabl e 1 indi cat e s the ma j or
s ea and brac ki sh water convers ion pl ant s l o cat ed throughout the
wo rld .
- 1 1 _
TABLE 1
MAJOR S EA AND BRACKISH WATER CONVERSION PLANTs l /
( Exi s t ing o r under const ru ct ion )
Lo cat ion wat er de Pro ce s s : capa c ity ( gal l ons p er: mineral i z ed : day o f fre sh water
Kuwait ( Arabian 2Gul f ) e a a / Di st il l at ion
Aruba ( Netherl ands Ant il l e s ) Sea Di s t il l at ion
Curacao ( Netherl ands Ant ill e s ) S ea Di s t il l ation
Union of SouthAfri ca Bra cki sh El e ctrodialys i s
Nas sau , Bahamas S ea Di s t il l at ion
Cordon ,
Vene zuela S ea Di s t il l at ionEn iwetoc Sea Di s t il l at ion
Qatar Sea Di s t il l ation
I s l e o f Guernsey S ea Di st il l at ion
Las Piedra s ,
Vene zuel a S ea Di s t il l at ion
Mirafio ri , Italy S ea Di s t il l at ionMarcus Hook ,
Pennsylvania Bracki sh Di s t il l at ion
Iran ( Iranian0 1 1 C0 . ) Sea Di st il l at ion 3oo, ooo
Virgin I s l ands S ea Di st il l at ion
Kindl ey AFB ,
Bermuda S ea Di s t il l at ion 22 5 0 0 0
Dharan AFB ,
Arab ia S ea Di s t il l at ion
G ibral tar S ea Di s t il l at ion
1 2
TABLE 1 ( continued )
MAJOR SEA AND BRACKISH WATER CONVERSION PLANTs l /
( Exi s t ing or under constru ct ion )
Lo cat ion water de Pro ce s s : capac ity ( gal lons per: mineral i z ed : day of fre sh water
Sal tair , Utah Bracki sh El e c trodialys i s
New York ( Thruway Autho rity ) Bra cki sh El e ctrodialys i s
_1/ Exclude s numerous in stal l at ions on naval and commercial shipsand po rtabl e unit s us ed in remote Pa c ifi c I s l ands and in otherpart s o f the world .
.2/ Sal inity of Arab ian Gul f wat ers average s ppm comparedwith ppm for standard
"s ea wat er .
In addit ion to the pl ant s spe c ifi cal ly construct edfo r the purpo s e o f convert ing highly sal ine water s , many
companie s are engaged in the product ion of bottl ed drinking
water , us ing s imil ar pro ce s s e s , and produ ce a moderat e amountof di st il l ed water from ordinary potabl e water whi ch may contains everal hundred part s per mil l ion of di s sol ved sol ids . Plant s
with capac it ie s a s great a s gal l ons per day have b een
cons truct ed in Southern Cal ifornia . The wat er produc ed i s
sol d both commercial ly and dome st i cal ly to tho s e who , for one
reason or another , de s ire to have di s t il l ed water avail abl e .
Su ch treatment i s not re quired fo r dome s t i c us e s in Cal ifornia
except a s personal pre ferenc e di ctat e s , for the qual ity o f
norma l munic ipal suppl i e s ut il i z ed a s source wat er i s within
the s tandards permitt ed for such us e s .
The General Conferenc e o f Unit ed Nat ions Edu cat ional ,
S c ient ifi c , and Cul tural Organi zat ion ( UNESCO ) , at it s ninth
s e s s ion in De cember 1 956 , included in the Ma jor Pro j e ct on
S c ient ifi c Re s earch on Arid Lands a propo sal to e stabl i sh a
c entral s ervi c e to fa cil itat e the exchange o f informat ion between
the various ins t itut ions working on s al ine water convers ion .
Thi s wa s to form a cont inuat ion Of the coordinated exchange o f
info rmat ion whi ch had begun under the au spi c e s o f the Organi zat ion
fo r European Economic Cooperat ion ( OEEC ) . Under thi s program ,
s everal member stat e s O f OEEC had arrived at agreement s fo r
Cooperat ive re s earch on sal ine wat er convers ion , such as re s earch
on vapori zat ion conduct ed j o int ly by the Admiralty Mat erial s
Labo ratory ( United Kingdom) and the Central Te chni cal Ins t itute
( TNO) , Netherl ands . S imilar agreement s were made in the fiel d
o f el e ctrodialys i s and di s t il l at ion by means o f sol ar energy .
The UNESCO Advi so ry Committee on Arid Zone Re s earch ,
at it s 1 3th s e s s ion , re commended that the o rgani zat ion undertake
a survey Of in st itut ions and laborato rie s engaged in re s earch on
sal ine wat er convers ion . A que st ionnaire wa s prepared and
mail ed to int ere s t ed inst itut ions in the spring o f 1 958 . A
summary o f the re sul t s O f the survey , showing the countrie s and
type s o f re s earch act ivit ie s in water demineral i zat ion i s
indi cated in Tabl e 2 .
The a c c el erat ed intere s t in wat er demineral i zat ion
during the pas t de cade is indi cat ed by the numerous meet ings
_ 1 5_
that have be en hel d throughout the worl d to di s cus s various
phas e s Of th e probl em . Tabl e 3 summari z e s the more important
conference s and sympo s ia .
S ea Wat er and Bracki sh Water Chara ct eri st i c s
There exi s t s no cl ear- cut de finit ion in te rms o f
s al inity of s ea and bracki sh water . It i s arb it rarily e stab
l i s h ed in thi s bul l et in that water with to tal di s s ol ved so l ids
content b etween and about part s per mil l ion ( ppm)
i s t ermed bracki sh Wat er of sal inity from about ppm
to about ppm i s t ermed"s ea water
S ea Water Chara ct eri st i c s
S ea water i s an aqueous so lut ion o f dis so lved so l ids
and gas e s whi ch general l y contains , in addit ion , su spended
organi c and inorgani c material . There are about 50 chemi cal
el ement s known to be pre s ent in solut ion in s ea water , o f whi ch
40 of the mo s t common are given in Tabl e 4. The water in mo s t
o c eans o f the world contain s about percent o r ppm
to tal dis solved so l ids . Inl and s ea s and l ake s may contain wat er
o f much higher sal inity ( for e x amp l e , th e Arabian Gul f water
average s ppm) whil e other o cean coa s tal waters such as
bays and e stuarie s may be diluted by rivers to hal f o r even
l e s s O f no rmal s ea wat er sal inity . Typical variat ions o f the
sal inity o f o cean and s ea water are l i s t ed at th e top o f
p age 20 .
Average o f thePa c ifi c O cean ,
San DiegoBal t i c S eaBlack S eaWhit e S eaSal ton S eaArabian Gul fRed S ea
Average di s sol ved so l ids
about
TABLE 4
CONCENTRATION OF ELEMENTS IN SEA WATERL/
El ement ( part s permil l ion
ChlorineSodiumMagne s iumSulphur 884Cal c ium 40 0Potas s ium 380Bromine 65Carbon 28S tront ium 3BoronS il i conF luorineNitrogenA luminumRub idiumLithiumPho sphoru s - 0 . l
BariumIodine
Tra c e el ement s
Ars eni cIronMangane s eCopperZin cLeadS e l eniumCae s iumUraniumMolybdenumThoriumCeriumS ilverVanadiumLanthanumYttriumNi ckelS candiumMercuryGol dRadium
( part s per mil l ion tot al di s so lved so l ids )
( part s permi l l ion
- 3x 1 0“
_1/ Sverdrup , H . U . , and o thers ,
"The O ceans Chapt er VI ,
Tabl e 36 , p . 1 76 , New York , Prent i c e - Hal l In c . , 1 942 .
_ 20
TABLE 5
APPROXIMATE AMOUNT or MINERAL I N
ONE CUBIC MILE or SEA WATERL /
Sodium Chloride ( common sal t )
Magnes ium Chlo ride
Magnes ium Sulphate
Cal c ium Sulphat e
Pota s sium Sulphate
Cal c ium Carbonat e
Magnes ium Bromide
Bromi ne
S tront ium
Boron
Fluo rine
Barium 90 0
Iodine 1 0 0 to
Ars eni c 50 to 350
Rubidium 20 0
S il ver up to 45
Copper , Mangane s e , Zinc , Lead 1 0 to 30
Gold up to 25
Radium about ( ounce )
Uranium 7
.l / Smith , F . G . W. , The Sun , the S e a ,and Tomorrow ;
Potent ial Source s o f Food , Energy and Mineral s fromS ea
'
, Charl e s S cribners , New York, 1 954.
It i s unfortunat e that in many arid area s o f the wo rld
the only wat er l o cal l y ava il abl e i s from underground suppl ie s
whi ch are bra cki sh . In many area s the l o cal inhabitant s must
e ither tol erat e thi s water condit ion or import suppl emental
suppl ie s o f fre sh water for the ir u s e . In some ca s e s the ground
wat er supply i s adequat e in quant ity to meet the l o cal needs
but i s unus abl e due to it s bracki sh qual ity .
Cal ifo rnia has many area s where the qual i ty o f ground
wat er range s between to part s per mill ion total
d is so lved so l ids . There are a few area s in Cal i fornia that have
ground wat er with to over part s per mil l ion total
di s so lv ed so l ids .
I t i s po s s ibl e for a few wel l s , that are produc ing
a c c eptabl e qual ity water , to exi st ins ide an area de s ignat ed as
a bracki sh wat er area . Quit e o ft en the s e b ett er qual ity wel l s
degenerate with us e to eventual ly produ ce b racki sh water s imil ar
to that in the surrounding area .
Some rivers and streams have bracki sh wate r with
various amount s o f di s so lved so l ids depending on the s eas on O f
the year . For exampl e , the New and Alamo Rivers in Imperial
Val l ey , Cal ifornia , range from about to part s per
mil l ion . The Sal ton S ea , into whi ch the s e rivers flow , range s
from about to part s per mil l ion .
For water potabl e to man there are rather s trict
l imitat ions regarding the quant it ie s o f di s so lved sol ids
p ermi s s ibl e .
Criteria pre s ented in the fol l owing s e c t ions c an be
ut il i z ed in evaluat ing mineral qual ity of water rel at ive to
exis t ing or ant i c ipat ed benefi c ial u s e s . It should be not ed
that the s e criteria are merely guide s to the apprai sal o f
water qual ity . Tab l e 6 give s the l imit ing concentrat ions o f
mineral cons t ituent s fo r drinking water , as propo s ed by th e
Unit ed Stat e s Publ i c Heal th S ervi ce and adopted by the Stateo f Cal ifornia . Except for tho s e cons t ituent s whi ch are cons i de r ed toxi c to huma n be ing s , the s e crit eria should b e con
s i de r ed as sugge s ted l imit ing value s . A wat er whi ch exceeds
one or mo re of the s e l imiting value s need no t ne ce s sarily be
el iminat ed from cons iderat ion as a s ource o f supply, but it
should be care ful ly evaluated from the heal th s tandpo int before
be ing ac cepted fo r drinking .
TABLE 6
UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICEDRINKING WATER STANDARDS
1 946
Const ituent
LeadFluorideArsenicS e l eniumHexaval ent chromi um
Nonmandato ry , but
re commended l imit
CopperIron and mangane s e togetherMagne sium 1 25Zinc 1 5Chloride 250Sul fat e 250Phenol i c compounds in t erms phenolTot al so l ids de s irabl e 50 0
1 0 0 0
Crit eria for mineral qual ity of irrigat ion water have
b een devel oped at the Univers ity Of Cal ifornia at Davi s and at
the Rubidoux and Reg ional Sal inity Labo rato rie s O f the Unit ed
S tate s Department o f Agri cul ture . Be cau s e o f divers e cl imato
logi cal condit ions and the variat ion in crops and so il s in
Cal ifornia , only general l imit s o f qual ity for irrigat ion wat ers
c an be sugge s t ed . A s et o f criteria bas ed upon studie s by the
Univers ity i s given in Tabl e 7 .
TABLE 7
QUALITATIVE CLASSIFICATIONOF IRRIGATION WATERS
Chemi cal propert ie s Exc el l ent Good to Inj urious toto good : i n jur i ou s : un s a t i s f a cto r y
To tal di s solved s ol ids ,
in ppm Le s s than 70 0 70 0 - 20 0 0 Mo re than 20 0 0
Conductanc e , inmi cromho s at 25
°0 Le s s than 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 30 0 0 More than 30 0 0
Chlo ride s , in ppm Le s s than 1 75 1 75- 350 More than 350
Sodium , in perc ent O f
ba s e cons t ituent s Le s s than 60 60 - 75 Mo re than 75
Boron , in ppm Le s s than More than
The crit eria shown in Tabl e 7 have l imitations in
actual pra ct i c e . In ma ny instance s , a water ma y be whol ly
unsuitabl e for irrigat ion under certain condit ions o f us e , and
yet be compl etely sat i s fa ctory under other c ircumstanc e s . Con
s iderat ion al so shoul d be given to so il permeabil ity, drainage ,
temperature , humidity , rainfal l , and o ther condit ions that canal t er the re spons e o f a crop to a part i cul ar qual ity of water .
_ 25_
It can be re adily demons t rat ed , bas ed on e s tabl i shed
phys i cal and thermodynami c princ ipl e s , that a c ertain minimum
energy i s required to s epara t e the di s so l ved so l ids from s al ine
wat er . Although s al ine wat er i s in it s el f a rel at ivel y s impl e
system of dis sol ved s al t s , it i s , on the o ther hand , a sys tem
that po s se s s e s con s ide rabl e stab il ity . A s a cons equence ,
rel at ively large amount s o f ene rgy are needed to s eparate the
s al t s from the wat er .
The theoret i c al minimum energy required to convert
average s ea water i s approximately thre e kil owatt - hours per
gal lons , or 975 kilowatt - hours per acre - fo ot o f fre sh
wat er . The figure of 975 kilowatt s per acre - fo ot i s no t depen
dent upon the convers ion pro ce s s a s i t repre s ent s only the energy
needed to overcome the s tabil ity of s e a wat er syst ems . A ctual ly ,
Mur ph y l / and other inve st igato rs have shown that a pract i c al
minimum ene rgy requirement i s approxima tely four t ime s the
above figure and it i s improbabl e that any actual pro ce s s wil l
Operat e with l e s s than thi s l att er ene rgy requirement . TO thi s
must be added energy for pumping through the convers ion pl ant
( about one kilowatt - hour per gal lons ) . Thus , th e l e as t
fore s eeabl e energy requirement i s about 1 3 kilowatt - hours per
gal lons . A power co s t o f one cent per kilowatt - hour
would re sult in an energy co s t per gal lons O f or
_1/ Murphy , G . W''
The Minimum Energy Requirement fo r S ea Wat erConvers ion
"
, Re s earch and Development Progre s s Report NO . 9 ,
Offi c e O f Sal ine Water , April 1 956 .
26
about $42 per acre - foo t . Each one mil l change in the co s t O f
power would re sul t in a variat ion o f per acre - foot under
the s tat ed condit ions o f energy requirement s . Convers ion
pl ant s l o cated at s ea l evel would require addit ional energy
to pump the convert ed s ea wat er to po int s o f consumption and
to furni sh re quired s ervi ce pre s sure s .
Cla s s i fi cat ion o f Pro ce s s Energy Needs
Of the s everal methods fo r demineral i zing water ,
two c l a s s ifi cat ions are us e ful , the firs t rel at ing to type o f
energy required fo r variou s demineral i z ing pro c e s s e s and the
s e cond rel at ing to the variat ion O f the re quired energy with
the init ial s al inity o f the wat er . Tabl e 8 l i st s the type o f
energy required fo r various type s o f convers ion pro ce s s e s .
Tab l e 9 l i s t s the s ame pro ce s s e s a s appear in Tabl e 8 , divided
into two group s . The firs t group include s al l o f the pro c e s s e s
fo r whi ch the energy re quirement i s e s s ent ial ly independent o f
th e init ial sal inity of the wat er supply , and the s e cond group
include s the pro c e s s e s for whi ch the energy re quirement i s
strongly influenc ed by the init ial s al inity .
Tho s e demineral i zat ion te chniques depending on
s eparat ion o f wat er from the dis so l ved sol ids , su ch as di s t il
l at ion and free z ing , are almo s t ent irel y unaffe ct ed by the
compo s ition and the conc entrat ion o f so l ids pre s ent . Con s e
quently , al l conc entrat ions and type s o f mineral i zed wat er can
be purified with almo s t equal fac il ity by su ch pro ce s s e s . On
the other hand,t e chnique s that remove so l ids from the water ,
su ch as el e c trodialys i s , are markedly affe ct ed by the compo s i
t ion and concentrat ion o f the mineral s pre s ent . Cons equently,
TABLE 8
TYPE OF ENERGY REQUIRED FORVARIOUS CONVERSION PROCESSES
Heat
Me chani cal
TABLE 9
CLASSIFICATION OF CONVERSION PROCESSESBASED ON THE VARIATION OF ENERGYREQUIREMENT WITH INITIAL SALINITY
Pro ce s s e s in whi ch theenergy requirement i se s s ent ial ly independento f init ial sal inity .
Pro ce s s e s in which theenergy requirement dependson init ial sal inity
Mul t ipl e - e ffe ct di s t il l at ionMul t i stage fl a sh di s t il l at ionSupercrit i cal di s t il l at ionVa cuum fl a sh di s t il l ationSol ar di s t il l at ion
Vapor compre s s ion di s t il l at ionFre e zingRevers e o smo s i s
El e c tro lys i sEl e c trodialys i s
Ion exchangePre c ipitat ion
Mult ipl e - e ffe ct di s t il l at ionMul t i s tage fl a sh di s t il l at ionVapor compre s s ion di s t il l at ionSupercrit i cal di s t il l ationVacuum fl ash di stil l at ionSo l ar di s t il l at ionFree zingRevers e o smo s i s
El e ct rodialys i sIon exchangeChemi cal pre c ipitat ion
Economy in the ut il i zat ion of energy in di s t il l at ion
can be ac compl i shed by the r e — us e of he at a s i s shown in
Figure 2 . Mult ipl e r e —us e o f heat i s an e s s ent ial feature o f
the de s ign o f al l modern di s t il l at ion pl ant s and i s c al l ed
mul tipl e - e ffe ct o r mul t is tage , depending on the detail Of the
pro ce s s ing . The s e t e chnique s are de s c ribed in the fo l l owing
paragraphs .
di s t il l at ion , the princ ipal method us ed in l arge s ea water
conve rs ion pl ant s at the pre s ent t ime , i s shown in Figure 3 .
In the mul t ipl e - e ffe ct t e chnique , s t eam pro du c ed in the firs t
effe ct is condens ed in the fo l l owing effe ct . As a cons equenc e ,
it furni she s heat fo r evaporat ing more wat er from the l att er
effe ct . Each effe ct i s Operated at a l ower pre s sure than
the prev ious one and the pre s sure change s corre spond to the
t emperature di fferenc e s required to produce the flow O f heat
needed . Plant s now exi s t with various number o f effe ct s , the
mo st common being thre e . S ix effe ct s have b een empl oyed , which
nearly doubl e s the e conomy Of thre e e ffe ct s . The Ol de s t and
mo st advanced devel opment o f the mul t ipl e - effe ct di s t il l at ion
pro ce s s has been fo r marine appl i cations where high co s t s to
produc e fre sh wat er pro duct ion are jus t ified when spac e i s
s aved and increa s ed cargo earnings more than Offs et the co s t
o f the water pro ce s s ing . The firs t l arge l and - bas ed di s t il l ing
plant s fol l owed marine pract i c e cl o s ely . However,re cent
de s igns for l arge l and pl ant s have t ended to depart markedly
from marine pract i c e be caus e o f re cent advance s in te chnol ogy
_ 30 _
and the fact that equipment space requirement s on l and are
no t as re stri c t ive a s aboard ship .
Concerning the probabl e ul t ima t e co s t o f wat er
p ro duc ed by l arge mul t ipl e - e ffe ct pl ant s , Sond e rma n l / has
rec ently concl uded that $ 1 per gal l ons per acre
f e e t ) i s a reasonabl e minimum to be expe cted fo r thi s type
o f pl ant . Thi s conclu s ion i s ba s ed on experience gained in
the cons truct ion of the mil l ion gal lons per day s ix - e ffe ct
pl ant at Aruba , Netherl ands We s t Indie s . The capital co s t
Of the Aruba pl ant , whi ch produ ce s el e ctri c power a s wel l a s
po tabl e water , i s about $4 per gal lon per day of capac ity .
The fre sh water at thi s new pl ant was e st imat ed during de s ign
to co s t P e r gal lons per acre - fo ot ) o f whi ch
fuel was maintenanc e and Operat ion and capit al
charge s per thous and gal l ons . Re cent advance s in equip
ment de s ign and the increas ed s al e O f b y- pro duct power may
redu ce co st s to $ 1 per gal lons in the future fo r l arge
instal l at ions o f thi s type .
An experimental pl ant de s igned and buil t by
Profe s sor LeRoy A . Broml ey at the Univers ity of Cal ifo rnia
ut il i ze s 30 e ffe ct s , and make s u s e O f rotat ing heat trans fer
surfac e s . The s e ro tat ing surfac e s render the trans fer o f heat
mo re effe ct ive and make po s s ibl e the immediate pas sage o f
s team from evaporat ing surfa ce to condens ing surface without
the extens ive piping us ed in pre s ent pl ant s . Me chani cal energy
must be suppl ied to rotate the heat t rans fer surface s , whi ch
_1/ Sonderman , G . E Today ' s Pri c e for Fre sh Water from theS ea "
, Consul t ing Engineer , February 1 958 .
_ 31 _
adds to th e co s t O f the product water . Thi s type o f equipment
may find appl i cat ion to sma l l er capac ity pl ant s .
Fl a sh Di s t il l at ion . Fla sh di s t il l ation i s s chemat i
cal ly indi cated in Figure 4 whi ch repre s ent s a two - s tage pl ant .
In thi s pro ce s s heated s ea wat er i s rel e as ed into a cl o s ed
ve s s el that i s maintained at a lower pre s sure than the vapo r
pre s sure Of the heated s ea wat e r . A s a re sul t , a port ion Of
the s ea water fl ashe s into vapo r whi ch in turn i s condens ed to
fo rm fre sh water . At th e pre s ent t ime ( 1 960 ) from 1 2 to 30st age s are us ed in l arge ins tal l at ions . Economy i s expe ct ed
to be bett er with the mul t i s tage fl a sh pl ant than with conven
t i ona l pl ant s o f the mul t ipl e— e ffe ct type ( s ee Glo s sary fo r
definit ions o f"s tage
" and In Figure 5 i s shown
1 0 s tage s in one ve s s el . Th e combining o f s everal s tage s in
one ve s s el pe rmi t s a saving in bo th material and l abo r co s t s .
Th e Cal ifornia experimental demonstrat ion pl ant whi ch i s tobe buil t at Po int Loma , San Diego , wil l have 36 s tage s , with
as many as 8 st age s in one v e s s el . Figure 6 il lus trat e s how
a nucl ear reactor can be ut il i zed as a heat source with a
mult i s tage fl a sh evapo rator to convert s ea wat er . Figure 7
shows the re c ently compl eted 26 - s t age , gal l ons per day
s ea water convers ion pl ant at Mandalay Bea ch , near Oxnard , for
the Southern Cal i fo rnia Edi son Company .
Va cuum Flash Di s t i ll ation . The vacuum fl a sh di s t il
l at ion pro ce s s ma ke s us e o f two exi s t ing wat er suppl ie s Of
different t emperature s , such as exi st s b etwe en the surfac e and
Courte sy Southe rn Ca l iforn ia Ed ison CompanyFigure 7
The Souther n Ca liforn ia Ediso n Compa ny sea wa te r co n versio n un it a t
Manda la y Bea ch, loca ted a dja ce nt to the power p la nt fa cility. The 26- stage
e vapora tion co n vers io n p la nt ha s a ca pa city of ga llo n s of fresh
wa ter per da y.
syst em known as super - c rit i cal di s t il l at ion . Thi s sys t em
ut il i ze s the fa ct that the heat re quired to vapori ze wat erin it s crit ical s tat e i s z ero ( and i s . al so very smal l , j us t
below this pre s sure and tempe rature ) . The crit i c al pre s sure
for water i s about pounds per s quare inch ab so l ut e , and
the crit i cal temperature i s about 705°F . In thi s t e chnique ,
s ea water i s pumped through a heat exchanger at super- crit i cal
pre s sure . The fre sh water produc ed runs through the same heatexchanger , in the oppo s it e dire ct ion , a s doe s al s o the wa st e
conc entrated brine . When the hot s ea wat er l eave s the heat
exchanger , it i s pa s s ed into a s eparatel y heat ed ve s s el where
only a smal l amount o f addit ional heat i s re quired to caus e
part ial vapo ri zat ion . At this po int , the vapo r i s s eparated
from the brine and i s returned to one o f the pas sages in the
heat exchanger , whil e the brine i s fed into ano ther return
pas sage in the s ame heat exchanger .
S everal s erious probl ems O f de s ign and Operation areyet to be so lved , inc luding
1 . S el e ct ion o f suit abl e ma t erial s fo r the heat
t rans fer surfac e that can re s i s t the extremely co rro s ive
propert ie s of the very hot s ea wat er .
2 . Means for prevent ing or reduc ing the rapid
depo s ition o f s cal e .
3 . The de s ign o f e ffi c ient hydraul i c turbine s and
pumps to effe ct ively handl e s ea water and brine at the t empera
ture s and pre s sure s us ed in thi s syst em .
34
Photograph by DWRFigure 8
Ex pe rimenta l va cuum fla sh distilla tio n p la nt a t the Richmo nd fie ld sta tio n
of the Un ive rsity of Ca lifor n ia .
Up to the pre s ent t ime , a compl ete s ol ut ion o f thes e te chni cal
diffi cul t ie s has not be en Obtained and l ittl e pract i cal a pp l i
cat ion O f thi s pro c e s s has re sul t ed .
di s t il l at ion i s il l us trated in Figure 1 0 . Thi s pro c e s s make s
us e o f the wel l - e s tabl i shed phys i c al princ ipl e that when a
vapo r i s compre s sed it s t emperature i s rai s ed . Cons iderabl e
e conomy O f energy i s a chieved by thi s t e chnique o f increa s ing
t emperature by compre s s ion of the gas . The ho t s t eam i s then
condens ed in the heat ing s e ct ion O f the evaporato r where the
rel ea s ed heat i s u s ed to produce more s team and as a con s e
q uen ce , the e conomy o f operat ion i s rel at ively high . There i s ,
however , a smal l amount O f auxil iary heat required to make up
for the l o s se s in the syst em . A di s advantage o f the vapor
compre s sion di s t il l at ion te chnique i s that the pl ant s are
compl icat ed , parti cul arly the l arge s i ze , and the capital co s t s
are co rre spondingly high . Commerc ial unit s a s l arge a s
gal l ons per day capa ci ty of fre sh wate r have been cons truct ed
and operated . A new rotat ing devi c e for increas ing the trans
fer Of heat in the vapor compre s s ion syst em has been invented
by Dr . Kenneth C . D . Hi ckma n,a nd thi s invent ion give s promis e
O f markedly reduc ing the co s t s o f unit s o f rel at ively smal l
s i ze .
S ol ar Di st il l at ion . Di s t il l ation by sol ar heat ing
has been p ra ct i c ed fo r many years . A so lar s t il l o f the
greenhous e type i s s chema t i cal ly il lus trated in Figure 1 1 , and
variou s type s o f experimental sol ar di s til l ation apparatus at
Ri chmond Fie ld s tat ion , Univers i ty of Cal i fornia , are shown in
Figure 1 2 . A s can be s een in Figure 1 1 , the rays o f the sun
pas s through a gl a zing o f gl as s o r pl as t i c and heat the sal ine
water in the bottom insul at ed tray . Vapori z ed water i s conveyed
by conve ct ion and conden s e s on the inner gl a zing surfac e and
run s down into co l l e ct ing troughs . An Obvious advantage to
s ol ar di s t i l l at ion i s tha t the energy ( inso l at ion ) i s free , and
in warm arid cl imate s the sourc e during dayl ight hours i s fairly
cons tant . A di sadvantage i s the l ow effi c iency O f the sys tem,
the l arge amo unt o f l and needed to produce s i zeabl e quant it i e s
O f fresh wat er , and the corre spondingly high capital co s t s . A
s erie s o f expe riment s with various fo rms O f so l ar di s t il l ation
equipment have be en conduct ed at the Univers ity of Ca l ifornia
during the past s even o r e ight years . In addit ion , t e s t work
under the auspi c e s Of th e Offi ce o f Sal ine Wat er , Unit ed
S tate s Department O f the Inte rio r , has been conduc ted by
variou s ins t itut ions such as the New Yo rk Univers ity and the
B j o r k s ten Laboratorie s , Na d i s on , Wi s cons in . The Offi ce o f
Sal ine Water al s o operat e s a t e st fac il ity at Po rt Orange ,
Florida . Experiment s have be en carried out on s imil ar unit s
by inve s t igators in Algeria , Aus tral ia , Cyprus , Italy , and in
the Virgin I s l ands . Several s emi - commerc ial pl ant s have be en
buil t in Algeria and Aus tral ia . Up to the pre s ent t ime , no
large— s cal e commercial ins tal l at ions hav e be en cons tru ct ed .
The l arge s t so l ar pl ant known wa s the pl ant buil t and Operated
in South Ameri ca in the l 87o's , whi ch was de s cribed previou s ly
on page 8 .
SU NS RAYS
G LASS ENC LOS E DGREENHOUS E
C O N D EN S E DTER DROPLETS
FRE SHWATERCOLL ECT I N G TROUGHSEA WATER PAN
DER PAN
F ig ure 1 1
SO LAR STI LLOpera t ion The sun ’s ra ys pa ss th ro ugh the g la ss a nd hea t the sea wa te r i n the pa n to a h ighertempe ra tu re t ha n the outs ide a ir. The mo is tu re from the hea ted sea wa ter conde nse s
on the coo le r g la ss top a nd tr ickle s into the fre sh wa te r co llect i ng trough .
Photograph by DWRFigure 12
Ex perimenta l sola r distilla tio n a ppa ra tus a t the Richmo nd fie ld sta tio n of
the Un ive rsity of Ca liforn ia .
Re s earch has indi c at ed that , on a year - around ba s i s
only about one - hal f o f the so l ar energy striking a ho ri zontal
surface i s ab sorbe d as heat by the fre sh wat er produc ed in
s impl e sol ar s t il l s . Thi s re sul t s in produ ct ion rat e s , for
Cal ifornia lat itude s , o f approximately one gal lon per day fo r
ea ch eight s quare fe et o f hori zontal co l l e cto r surfa c e . Th i s
would amount to about four acre— feet per year fo r each acre o f
so l ar s til l s . The cons truct ion co s t o f s impl e sol ar s t il l s
i s about $ 1 0 per gal l on per day o f capac ity at the pre s ent t ime
whi ch contribut e s to an exce s s ivel y high product wat er co s t .
Fre e z ing , as a method o f wat er demineral i z ing , has
b een fre quently sugge s t ed s inc e when s ea water i s sol idifi ed
only the pure water fo rms crystal s whil e the di s sol ved mineral s
remain in sol ut ion as brine . The energy requirement s are al s o
attract ive , as the l at ent heat o f fus ion i s only about one
s eventh that required for vapo ri zation . One type of free zing
te chnique is il lus trat ed by Figure 1 3 . A ma j o r probl em ham
pering the commercial development o f thi s t e chnique i s the
diffi cul ty encount ered in s eparat ing the brine from the ic e
crystal s s inc e sma l l amount s o f brine are trapped betwe en
c rys tal s as the i ce i s fo rmed . Syst ems for s eparat ing the i c e
from the brine invol ve one o f the fol l owing , vi z
1 . Compre s s ion o f the i c e so that the brine i s
forced out .
2 . C entrifuging and washing the i c e .
3 .The migrat ion of po cket s o f brine to the ends
of so l id i c e cyl inders induc ed by the movement o f a heat ed zone
along the cyl inder .
4. Counter- current fl ow o f re cycl ed fre sh water
through a wash column .
Effo rt s t o s eparate the i c e and brine by centrifuging have been
conduct ed by a number o f experimenters . Up to the pre s ent t ime ,
re sult s have no t been encouraging as only about 20 percent o f
the s ea water ha s been re co vered as fre sh wate r , the remainderof the water be ing needed for washing . The Carrier Corpo rat ion ,
under the auspi c e s o f the Offi c e of Sal ine Water , United S tat e s
Department o f the Interior , has cons truct ed and t e s t ed a smal l
unit empl oying a free z e - evaporat ion pro ce s s . In thi s t e chni que ,
a su spens ion o f i ce in brine i s fo rmed when co l d s ea wat er i s
sprayed into a va cuum chamber . The suspens ion i s then pumped out
o f this vacuum chamber into the bot tom o f a washing column where
fre sh water added fo r washing flows downward agains t the i c e
part icl e s whi ch are ri s ing be caus e o f the ir buoyancy . Brine ,
diluted with wash wat er , i s then removed from the bo ttom of the
washing column and fre sh water i s obtained from the mel t ed i c e .
Membrane Pro ce s s e s
i s , as a pract i cal means o f demineral i z ing , a fairly re cent
devel opment . This pro c e s s , diagrammati cal l y shown in Figure 14,
make s u s e o f the el e c tri cal characteri s t i c s o f the mineral con
s t i tuent s o f bracki sh or s ea wat er . For exampl e , common sal t
( Na Cl ) when di s so lved in wate r di s so c iat e s into ch arged atoms
C URRE N T SOU RC E
CO N C E N TRAT E DBRHNE
6) s oonum ION ( Posm vs ) C AT I O N9 CHILORINE ION ( N EG AT IVE ) A N I ON
F ig ure 14ELECTRODIALYS IS PROCESS
Ope ra t ion As bra ckish wa te r flow s th rough ea ch pa ssa ge be twee n membra ne s, a n
e lectr lc current a ttra cts the nega t ive or a n ion s to the r ight a nd the posntiveor ca t ions to the left. The ca t ion pe rmea b le membra ne a llows on lypos i t ive ions s uch a s sod i um to pa ss th rough a nd on ly in the one di rect ion .The a n ion pe rmea b le memb ra ne a llows on ly nega t ive ions such a s ch lo r ineto pa ss th roug h a nd on ly in the one directlon . As a net re su lt fre sh wa te r ts
fo rmed in a lte rna te pa ssa ge s .
cal l ed ions , one type be ing sodium ions ( t ermed"cat ions
ea ch o f whi ch carrie s a po s it ive el e c tri cal charge , and the
other type be ing chlo rine ions ( termed each o f which
carrie s a negat ive el e c trical charge . If a flow o f dire ct
el e c tri cal current i s made to pass through the mineral i zed
solut ion between two pl at e s ( known as el e ctrode s , one pl ate
being el e ctri cal ly po s it ive whil e the other i s el e c tri cal ly
negat ive ) , then the po s it ive s odium ions ( cat ions ) wil l be
attracted to the negat ive el e c trode ( cathode ) and the negat ive
chl o rine ions ( anions ) wil l be att ract ed to the po s it ive el e c
trode ( anode ) . By this t e chnique , employing a suitabl e trapping
devi ce , mo s t o f the sodium and chl o rine can be removed , l eaving
as a produc t wat er greatl y reduced in di s solved so l ids . Suc ce s
s ive s tage s o r repet it ions o f th e above bas i c pro ce s s ing permit
demineral i zat ion to any extent required . In the actual pro ce s s ,
s tacks o f pl a s t i c membrane s are us ed whi ch are s el e ctive to
ei ther po s it ive o r negat ive ions , thu s al l owing only sodium ions
or only chl orine ions to pas s through into o ther compartment s .
The s e two type s o f“ion s el e ct ive
"membrane s are al t ernated
throughout a membrane s ta ck .
El e ctrodialys i s e q uipment i s s t il l in a rel at ively
early stage o f devel opment and extens ive operat ing experienc e
on large pl ant s i s l imit ed . An ele c trodialys i s pl ant l o cat ed
at Bahre in in the Middl e Ea s t has the longe s t period o f opera
t ion , having been ins tal l ed in 1 955 and enl arged to a to tal
daily capac ity o f gal l ons i n 1 957 . A plant with a
capa c ity o f about gal lons per day o f po tabl e water
i s be ing construct ed in South Afri ca , to re cl aim s al ine water
encountered in gol d mine s .
In 1 959 ,a plant wa s cons tructed and pl aced in Opera
t ion by Ioni c s , Inc . , o f Cambridge , Mas sachus ett s , at Coal inga ,
Cal i fornia,having a capac ity o f gal l ons per day .
Figure 1 5 shows the ins ide o f the Coal inga pl ant . Ioni c s ha s
engaged in development o f thi s pro c e s s fo r a number o f years and
the to tal capac ity o f al l e l e ctrodial ys i s pl ant s , cons truct ed
by the firm now ( 1 96 0 ) approximat e s about gal l ons per
day .
At pre s ent , membrane repl ac ement co s t s are exce s s ive ,
be ing very nearly 50 percent o f the operat ing co s t s . Undoubtedly ,
cont inued development o f rel iabl e membrane s wil l l ead to reduced
init ial co s t s a s wel l as increa s ed l ife , with the re sul t that
future co s t s wil l be l e s s . El e ctro dialys i s has an ad vantage
over di s til l ation te chnique s in that the energy required i s
proport ional to the we ight o f di s so l ved mineral s removed rather
than be ing propo rt ional to the we ight o f wat er pro duc ed . A s a
cons equence , el e ctrodialys i s i s wel l adapted to the d emi n e r a l i
za t i on o f mo st bra cki sh wat er where the amount of mineral s to
be removed i s rel at ively smal l , with the cons equent smal l energy
requirement s . In some area s thi s pro c e s s may eventual ly compete
with the co s t o f importat ion o f natural water . Cons iderabl e
us e wil l probably be made o f the t e chnique o f "bl ending"with
high qual ity water suppl ie s to improve the overal l qual ity o f
wate r suppl ie s from bracki sh sourc e s .
Courte sy C i ty of Coa l ingaFigure 15
The bra ckish wa ter co nve rsio n p la nt a t Coa linga ,Ca lifor n ia . This p la nt is
of the e lectrodia lysis type a nd ha s a ca pa city of ga llo n s per da y.
the granul e s are forc ed to exchange the"A”ions fo r the
”
B"
ions be cau s e o f the high concentrat ion o f the l atter . The
regenerat ion cycl e can be repeat ed many t ime s . The main facto r
inhibit ing the us e o f thi s method fo r s ea water conve rs ion i s
the high co s t o f ion exchange ma t erial s .
In the ca s e o f the home water so ftener , cal c ium ions
in the entering hard water are exchanged fo r sodium ions in
the softener o r ion exchanger . The sodium ions in the produ ct
wate r are not so detrimental and permi t the fo rmation of soap
suds ; hence , the wat er i s cons ide red as b e ing softened . When
the home water so ft ener i s depl eted , i t can be regenerated with
a concentrat ed solut ion o f common s al t ( sodium chloride ) .
Indus trial ion exchangers operat e on the s ame
princ ipl e , but u s e various type s o f ion exchange material s in
order to obtain the type o f produc t water required . In some
cas e s , indus trie s ( st eam generat ing pl ant s in part i cul ar ) us e
thi s pro ce s s to compl etely d emd ne r a l i ze wat er fo r the ir u s e .
The Univers ity of Cal i fo rnia has experimented in the
u s e o f sal t s o f vol at il e material s fo r the repl ac ement ions ,
fol lowed by the re covery o f the vol at il e component s from the
pro duct water as ga s e s and the ir r e - us e a s gas e s in the
regenerating pro c e s s . So far , the work has ut il i zed ammonium
bi carbonate , yielding ammonia and carbon dioxide gas e s when
heated . The s e gas e s are then di s so l ved and us ed in the regen
e r a t i ng s olut ion . The general conclus ion i s that the p a r t i c
ul ar syst em s tudied require s an exc e s sive amount o f heat energy
for the l ibe rat ion o f the ga s e s . However , s inc e thi s high heat
requirement i s due to the nature o f the ammonium bi carbonate ,
a s earch is b eing made for material s requiring l e s s heat energy
fo r the l iberat ion o f the gas e s .
S eparat ion by So lvent s . The s eparat ion o f fre sh water
from s ea o r bracki sh wat er by so lvent s is an intere s t ing concept
that depends on the ab il ity of a l iquid to ab sorb l arge
t it ie s o f water from a sal ine so lution . By thi s means ,
theo re t i cal ly po s s ibl e to add sol vent s to s al ine water ,
di s solving a po rt ion o f the wat er and concentrat ing the
in the remaining brine . The organi c solvent containing
quan
i t i s
thus
mineral s
wat er i s
s eparated from the brine and the fre sh water i s then s eparated
from the organic so lvent . To be effe ct ive , a sol vent i s needed
that exhib it s sharp so lubil ity change s with temperature ,
has a high s el e ct ivity for water ove r sal t .
and
chemi cal s which when mixed with s ea water would pre c ipitat e the
sal t s into an insolubl e fo rm . The s e inso lubl e s al t s coul d
then be removed by s edimentat ion or fil trat ion . The high co s t
o f chemi cal s whi ch have be en us ed in labo ratory trial s for th i s
pro ce s s indi ca te s that the pro ce s s i s too expens ive to p roduce
large quant it ie s o f fre sh wat er e conomi cally . If a l e s s co s tly
re covery pro ce s s can be dis co vered to re cl aim the expens ive
chemical s fo r r e —us e , thi s pro ce s s coul d be very promi s ing .
algae ab so rb the unwanted sal t s from s ea water . This sugge s t s
s everal po s s ibl e s cheme s fo r demineral i zing s ea water .
_ 43 _
Experiment s at the Univers ity o f Cal i fo rnia at Lo s Angel e s are
b eing conducted with algae grown in a combinat ion o f s ewage
e ffluent and s ea water , and are prima rily conc erned with
measurement s o f the capa c ity o f the algae to ab sorb the mineral s
from s ea water . Favo rabl e re sul t s would l ead to the ins tal l a
t ion of a smal l pil ot pl ant . Al so , other s tudie s at Ri chmond ,
Cal ifo rnia , have grown out o f the very extens ive work done
there on s ewage treatment by algae . Re sourc e s Re s earch , Inc . ,
has s tudied s everal spe c ie s o f algae wh i ch concentrat e s odium .
One spe c ie s was ab l e to maint ain an internal concentrat ion o f
sodium whi ch was twi c e that o f the medium . The medium in thi s
c as e was about 1 0 percent s ea wat er .
In o rder to keep abrea s t o f rapid development s in
the s ea water convers ion and nu cl ear energy fiel d and to apply
the s e t e chnique s to water re sourc e s development s , a l egi s l at ive
sub committee in 1 958 , re commended that the Legi sl ature suppo rt
s tudie s on the appl i cat ion of s al ine wat er convers ion and
nuc l ear energy to water pro j e c t s under the Department of Wat e rRe source s . At that t ime , a unit known a s the Appl ied Nuc l earEngineering Unit wa s e stabl i shed in the department to engage in
a ctivitie s in both the sal ine water convers ion and the nucl ea r
energy fiel d . Th e various phas e s o f the s e a c t ivit ie s in the
f ield o f s al ine water convers ion are de s cribed bel ow .
Department o f Wate r Re source s
By virtue o f a provi s ion in the Sal ine Water A ct
( Publ i c Law 448 , July 3 , 1 952 ) permi tt ing the Offi c e o f Sal ine
- uu_
a convent ional bo il er,us ing data devel oped in the s tudy for
the l arger pl ant . The co s t o f the s e s tudie s was about
o f whi ch the Department o f Water Re source s contribut ed
in th e bel ie f that much promi s e in the s ea wat er convers ion
field lay in nucl ear energy a s a heat sourc e and in the mult i
s tage fl ash sys tem a s a di s t il l at ion pro c e s s .
Department o f Water Re sourc e s
The Department o f Wate r Re source s and the Univers ity
o f Cal ifo rnia have a common intere s t in a chieving demi n e r a l i za
t ion of s al ine water at a co s t suffi c i ently l ow to be us eful
for agri cul ture , muni c ipal , and indus trial purpo s e s in Cal ifornia .
In order to co o rdinate the convers ion ac t ivit ie s o f the s e s tat e
agenci e s to produc e maximum benefit s , a cooperat ive agre ement
between the department and the Univers ity was entered into
early in 1 958 . Under thi s agreement , cl o s e l iai son and coopera
t ion have been ma intained be tween the Univer s ity and the depart
ment . The Univers ity ' s re s earch and devel opment facil i t ie s are
l o cated at the Ri chmond Fiel d s tat ion near the Berkel ey campu s ,
and al so at the Lo s Angel e s campus . O c cas ional s taff meet ing s
are hel d at the Ri chmond Fiel d s tat ion , whi ch repre s entat ive s o f
the department are invited to att end . Al so , o c cas ional meet ings
involving the re s earch group at the Lo s Angel e s campus are
at tended . The rol e o f the Univers ity i s to g ive ma j or att ent ion
to the l e s s wel l - devel oped methods , conduc t ing re s earch and
experimentat ion with smal l pil o t pl ant s where deemed de s irabl e .
The department , through it s s tatutory re spons ib il ity for wat er
re source s pl anning , conc erns it s el f with appl i cat ions o f sal ine
46
water conve rs ion as a suppl ement to convent ional water develop
ment pro j e ct s .
The re s earch program o f the Univers ity o f Cal ifo rnia
has be en unde r way continuous ly s ince 1 951 . I t s purpo s e i s to
s earch fo r methods o f demineral i z ing l arge volume s o f s ea water
at a low co st . Low co st"i s interpreted as meaning co s t s com
p et i t i ve with no rmal water suppl ie s , fo r which maximum pri c e s
in Cal ifo rnia are about $ 1 25 per acre - foo t for munic ipal u s e s
and about $40 per acre— foo t for irrigat ion purpo s e s . The
Univers ity ' s program has invol ved extens ive inve s t igat ive and
experimental work on many different pro ce s se s , re sul t ing in
valuabl e contribut ions to the field of s al ine water convers ion .
It s work through the years has incl uded analyti cal s tudie s ,
laborato ry experimentat ion , and some pilot pl ant cons truct ion
and operat ion . Ob j e ct ive s are both the improvement o f exi st ing
methods and the devel opment of new pro ce s s e s .
Among the ma j or pro j e ct s now under way i s the te s t ing
of a 28 - effe ct ro tat ing di s t il l at ion pl ant , 4 feet in
diameter,which was re c ently const ructed at the Ri chmond Fiel d
stat ion o f the Unive rs ity o f Cal i fo rnia . Prel iminary te s t s
have been made u s ing both city wat er and water from the San
Franci s co Bay . Water o f high q ual ity ( l e s s than 5 ppm ) has
b een obtained from the te s t s .
Experimentat ion is cont inuing on the va cuum fla sh
di s t il l at ion pro c e s s ut il i zing low temperature diffe rence s .
A pilo t pl ant at the Ri chmond Fiel d s tat ion with a capac ity
o f gal l ons per day i s be ing us ed fo r thi s pro j e c t ( s ee
Figure Stud ie s are being conduct ed on the phenomenon o f
fog fo rmat ion during evapo rat ion and the effe c t on heat t rans fer
fa ctors o f the pre s en c e o f air in the s team formed by the
fl ashing of the warm s ea water .
Equipment i s pre s ently be ing as sembl ed at the Ri chmond
Field s tat ion to te s t the po s s ib il it ie s o f an immi s c ibl e fluid
heat trans fe r cyc l e . Thi s pro ce s s would al l ow a high rat e o f
heat to be trans ferred by dire ct conta ct from an immi s c ibl e
fluid to s ea water . Thi s s cheme would el imi nat e the expens ive
tub ing required in convent ional heat exchangers and the atten
dant probl em of s cal ing of met al l i c surfa ce s .
The Univers ity of Cal ifornia at Lo s Angel e s has
c arried on extens ive re s earch with the reve rs e o smo s i s pro c e s s ,
and has b een suc c e s s ful in developing a membrane whi ch can
fil ter out potabl e wa ter a hundred t ime s fa s ter than previou s
commercial films . A pre s sure o f pounds per s quare inch
wa s required in experiment s to effe ct ivel y s eparat e po tabl e
water from the sea water . The Univers ity has re c entl y de s igned
a 50 0 gal lon per day pl ant whi ch wil l aid in gathering des ign
and co st info rmat ion fo r the de s ign o f a gal lon per day
pl ant .
Other pha s e s o f res earch in sal ine wat er convers ion
c arried on by the Univers ity o f Cal ifo rnia are mentioned in
o ther s e ct ions of thi s chapt er .
S everal contra ct s have be en awarded by the Department
o f Water Re source s to private firms for s tudie s on s ea water
convers ion . Stanford Re s earch Ins t itut e , fo r exampl e , was
_ 48 _
fo rmation o f su ch cryst al s . The idea s eems promi s ing and
further wo rk on thi s appro a ch i s b e ing cons idered .
Kais er Engineers , Divi s ion of Henry J . Kai s er Company ,
compl eted fo r the department an engineering survey o f wa st e
heat avail ab il ity for s al ine wat er convers ion i n Cal ifo rnia .
Thi s survey inve s t igated wa ste h eat given o ff by indus trie s
and ut il it ie s within five mil e s o f the coas t l ine . Thi s survey
i s covered in more detail in Chapt er IV unde r the s e ct ion on
"Ut il i zat ion o f Wa st e Heat
".
The Fluor Co rporat ion has compl eted an inve s t igat ion
of a mul t i s tage fl a sh evaporat ion pl ant u s ing so l ar heat asthe s ourc e o f energy . Thi s s cheme showed some promi s e in a
prel imi nary inve s t igat ion s inc e the sol ar heat was r e - us ed in
a number o f s tage s . However , the final repo rt concluded that
it would not be e conomi c all y fea s ibl e to produc e wat er by thi s
means . Thi s study was init iated by th e Department o f Water
Re source s , but the Offi c e o f Sal ine Wat er contributed a po rt ion
o f the co s t .
The Appl ied Nuc l ear Engineering Unit in the Department
o f Water Re source s has ma de us e o f material from other t e chni cal
spe c ial i s t s in the Department o f Water Re sourc e s that pertained
to s al ine water convers ion . One su ch inve s t igat ion wa s an
inventory of the princ ipal s al ine wat er s ource s in the Stat e ,
and a cons iderat ion o f the e conomi c s o f re cl aiming such waters
for agri cul ture or dome s t i c us e . Another study carried on by
the department was the gathering o f data on winds to de termine
whether there was any po s sib il ity o f harne s s ing thi s power fo r
50
appl i cat ion to sal ine water convers ion . No s it e wa s l o cated
in Cal ifornia suffi c ient ly favo rabl e to jus t ify an engineering
study o f a wind power generato r .
A great many s cheme s have been submitted to the
Department o f Water Re sourc e s by the intere s ted publ i c , d e s cr i b
ing pro ce s s e s fo r convert ing s ea water to fre sh water , o r
tapping energy from some unconvent ional source . Ea ch s cheme
has b een dil igently rev iewed by the engineers in the department ,
and in s everal cas e s , the s cheme has been referred to the s ea
water re s earch group at the Univers ity o f Cal ifornia for furthe r
s tudy . No propo s ed s cheme yet re ce ived has been suffi c i entl y
novel o r pract i cal to jus t ify devel opment .
Re s earch and Deve l ment Pr rams b theOffi e r i o r
Notewo rthy s t imulus wa s given to e ffort s to inve s t i
gat e means o f deve l oping improved demineral i zat ion te chnique s
by the e s tabl i shment , in 1 952 , o f a program by the Department
o f the Interior to encourage privat e s c ient i fi c intere s t and
a ct ivity in de s al t ing o f s ea water . The Offi ce o f Sal ine Wat er
wa s o rgani zed to dire ct thi s a ct iv ity and was given l imit ed
funds to suppo rt convers ion re s earch and devel opment . Three
years lat er,the authority for the program was enl arged and
provi s ion wa s added fo r devo t ing part o f the fund to the suppo rt
of pro ce s s re s earch in other nations .
The ac t creat ing the Offi c e o f Sal ine Water , Publ i c
Law 448 - 82nd Congres s , 1 952 , proved to be a powerful s c ient ifi c
and te chni cal st imulu s . One resul t o f it s effort s wa s the
re inforcement o f t e chni cal ac t ivity abroad as wel l as in the
51
Unit ed S tat e s , bringing about a valuabl e international exchange
o f info rmat ion on sal ine water convers ion .
The Offi ce o f Sal ine Water , upon it s e s tabl i shment ,
undertook an extens ive survey o f s ci ent ifi c and te chni c al know
l edge and pro ce s se s . Inc luded in the s ur vey l / were various
phys i cal , chemi cal , and e l e ctri cal phenomena adaptabl e to con
vers ion , as wel l a s s everal modifi cations o f the conventional
di s til l ation pro c e s s , de s igned to increa s e the pro duc t ivity
and reduce the s i ze and co s t o f the ne c e s sary e quipment .
Some 30 potent ial convers ion pro ce s s e s , ac tual and
potent ial , were original ly del ineated in thi s survey , al though
they were ul t imately reduced to 1 6 pro c e s s e s deemed worthy of
further s tudy . The s e , in turn , were s egregated into four bas i c
pro ce s s group s : ( 1 ) di s til l at ion ; ( 2 ) membrane pro ce s s e s ;
( 3 ) free z ing ; and ( 4) o thers . The l a s t group include s su ch
t e chnique s and phenomena as chemical , so l vent extrac t ion , and
biologi cal pro ce s s e s .
Some important re s earch act ivit ie s carried on by the
Offi ce of Sal ine Water are out l ined in the ne xt s e ct ion .
S cal e and Co rro s ion
Although there are s everal different type s o f di s t il
l at ion e quipment and cycl e s , al l are pre s ently sub j e ct to the
same general l imitat ions due to the depo s it ion of s cal e and
corro s ion . S cal e forming cons tituent s , principal l y cal c ium
_1/ United S tate s Department of the Interio r ,
"Demineral i zat iono f Sal ine Waters
'. A compendium of exi s t ing and po t ent ial
s eparat ion pro c e s s e s , phenomena , and energy source s withdi s cus s ion and l it erature reference s , O ctober 1 952 .
empl oyed in the pulp indu stry , was propo s ed by Dr . W . L . Badger .
In thi s t e chnique , s ea water i s pas s ed through a s e rie s o f
evapo rato rs under reduced pre s sure and temperature , ut il i z ing
heat e ither appl ied dire ctly from a st eam generato r o r re covered
from the exhaus t o f a st eam turbine in conne ct ion with el e ctri c
power generato rs . A pil ot pl an t has been ere c ted at Wright svil l e
Beach in North Caro l ina and te s t s have be en made on s cal e
prevent ion , metal corro s ion , and heat trans fe r rate s , al l of
which have an impo rtant influenc e on the perfo rmance o f a dis
t i l l a t i on plant .
Improved evapo rators , in whi ch greatly increas ed
rate s o f heat trans fer are a chieved , give promi s e o f redu cing
c apital as well as operat ing co s t s . In one su ch deve lopment ,
the heat transfer co e ffi c i ent i s greatly increas ed over that
obtained with conventional e quipment .
*
I n thi s pro ce s s , invent ed
by Dr . Kenneth C . D . Hi ckman o f Ro che s t er , New York , the heat
t rans fer area i s in the shape o f coni cal surface s and i s rotat ed ,
thereby caus ing the feed wat er to spread ove r the surfac e s in
thin films , under the act ion o f c entrifugal force . S everal
experimental model s have be en const ru ct ed ranging in s i ze from
hous eho ld s i z e s ( 30 0 gal lons per day ) to much larger unit s
gal l ons per day ) . The s e are be ing te s ted on bracki sh ,
as wel l a s on s ea wat ers .
Ano ther heat trans fer syst em is under development
by Drs . B . F . Dodge and A . M . Es h ay a of New Haven , Conne ct i cut .
Te st s were run on l aborato ry equipment at Yal e Univers ity which
demonstrat ed that high heat t ran s fer co effi c ient s coul d be
maintained in a syst em ut il i zing forc ed circul ation and dropwi s e
condens at ion ( condensation in the form of dropl et s on the con
d en s i ng surfa ce ) in vapor compre s sion di s t il l at ion pro ce s s e s .
S imi l ar and compl ementary re s earch was conduct ed by the Brit i sh
Admiral ty under the European Cooperat ion Program . S everal
privat e o rgani zat ions in the Unit ed Stat e s and Europe are
experiment ing with dropwi s e promo t ers for variou s type s o f
heat exchanger surfac e s .
For l o cat ions where wast e heat is avail abl e or where
o cean temperature difference s are suffi c ient to induce fl ash
evapo rat ion , thi s pro c e s s may prove to be fea s ibl e . Thi s
probl em was re centl y s tudied by Gri s com- Rus s e l l Company ,
Ma s s i l on ,Ohio , for the Offi c e o f Sal ine Water , us ing the
energy of a s tream o f warm wast e wat er from the power stat ion
o f an indus trial pl ant , o r wa rm. wa te r from natural source s .
Est imat e s indi cat e that , with a t emperature difference o f 30° F .
b etwe en the warm and col d wate r , pl ant s o f and
gal lons per day output capaci ty woul d produc e fre sh water from
s ea water at overal l co s t s o f and per gall ons ,
re spe ct ively .
S olar S til l
Re s earch on sol ar s t il l s , with the ob j e ct ive o f
reduc ing co s t o f equipment and increas ing effi c iency i s be ing
carried out by the Offi c e o f Sal ine Water and o ther as so c iat ed
_ 55_
groups,su ch a s the Univers ity o f Cal ifo rnia and the Univers ity
of Florida . Both gl as s and pl as t i c membrane s have found app l i
cat ion as transparent covers fo r so lar s t il l s , and equipment
co st s are be ing reduced .
The O ffi ce o f Sal ine Water ha s init iat ed a comp r eh en
s ive devel opment program on sol ar s t il l s through contract with
Batt el l e Memo rial Ins t i tut e o f Columbus , Ohio . Proto type s o f
various exi st ing and improved de s igns have be en ins tal l ed and
are be ing te s t ed at a s easho re t e s t s tat ion near Po rt Orange ,
Florida .
The Offic e o f Sal ine Water expe ct s that the So larDi st il l at ion Cent er , in Flo rida , wil l pro duc e enginee ring de s igns
and spec ifi cat ions fo r prac t i cal future so l ar di s t il l at ion
pl ant s .
Convers ion pro c e s s e s ut il i zing membrane s have be en
developed during the pas t few years to the po int where s everalare known to be t e chni cal ly fea s ibl e . One pro ce s s , el e ct ro
dialys is , al so appears to b e e conomi cal ly feas ibl e for the
t reatment of b racki sh water unde r certain condit ions .
Spe c ifi cal l y, the membrane pro ce s s e s showing promi s eare ( l ) e l e ctrodialys i s , where an el e ctromo tive fo rce i s
appl i ed to a cel l cons i s t ing o f ion s el e c t ive membrane s ,
( 2 )"o smi on i c
"
, where the conc entrat ion gradient between the
so lut ion suppl ie s the po t ent ial to drive ions through ion
s el e ct ive membrane s , and ( 3 ) revers e o smo s i s , where suffi c ient
pre s sure i s appl ied to the so lut ion to forc e water through an
ion re s training membrane into the fre sh wat er s ide .
56
b etween a brine and the water to b e demineral i zed . The powe r
supply ,therefore , might be obtained from sal t depo s it s ,
b rine wel l s,o r by ponding sal ine wate r and al l owing the sun
to concentrate the wat er .
Revers e o smo s i s invo lve s the pas sage o f water through
a membrane from a concentrated so lut ion to a more dilut e one .
If enough pre s sure i s appl i ed to the mo re concentrat ed solut ion
( more than 370 pounds per s quare inch pre s sure fo r s ea wat er ) ,
the o smo t i c fl ow can be revers ed and pure water wil l b e forced
through th e membrane . Thi s t e chnique i s known as revers e
o smo s i s . Re sul t s o f re s earch sponsored by the Offi c e o f Sal ineWater have demons trat ed that around 97 pe rcent o f the s al ts o f
s ea water can be removed in one pas s through a membrane , such
a s c el lul o s e ac etat e , at a sl ow rat e o f fl ow . Inve s t igat ionaimed at increa s ing the durab il ity and fl ow rat e o f membrane s
i s cont inuing .
A promis ing approach to the ut il i zat ion of fre e z ing
as a means o f sal ine water convers ion and el iminat ion o f the
brine from the crys tal s i s a combinat ion of free zing and
evapo rat ion be ing inve s t igat ed by the Carrier Co rpo rat ion ,
Syracus e , New York , fo r the O ffi c e o f S al ine Water . Ex p e r i
mental apparatus and washing te chnique s have been devel oped
so that it i s now po s s ibl e to cont inuous ly produce pra ct ic al ly
s al t - free i c e from s ea water . In thi s pro ce s s chil l ed sal ine
wat er i s admitt ed to a chamber unde r high va cuum . At thi s
l ow pre s sure , about one - s eventh o f the water fla she s to vapo r ,
58
further chil l ing the rema inder , whi ch free ze s to an i ce—brine
s lurry . The s lurry then fl ows through a s eparat ion c olumn for
c ounter - current wa shing . The vapor formed in the free z ing
operat ion i s compre s s ed and condens e s on the i c e . The me l ted
i c e be come s the fre sh wat er product . Part o f the product i s
in turn us ed fo r washing the i c e .
The experimental program on thi s pro ce s s ut il i zing
a smal l shop - s i z e pilot pl ant , has no t appeared to di s cl o s e
any t e chni cal probl ems that would render the pro ce s s i mp r a c
t i cal . Operat ion o f the equipment is cont inuing and a l arger
pil ot pl ant o f about gal lons per day o f fre sh water
has been cons truct ed and i s b eing te s ted .
In another approach to the u s e o f free zing for
demi neral i z ing s al in e wat er an immi s c ibl e re frigerant , such
as i sobutane , i s vapori zed in dire ct conta ct with the s al ine
s o lut ion . The development o f thi s princ ipl e i s being s tudied
at Cornell Univers ity , Ithaca , New York , for the Offi c e o f
Sal ine Wate r . A pil o t pl ant i s b eing cons truct ed at St . Pet ers
burg,Flo rida
,by Blaw Knox Company as a continuat ion o f thi s
program . Be caus e mo s t e quipment nec e s sary for thi s pro ce s scould be o f comparat ively s impl e de s ign , it may be adaptabl e
t o l arge - s cal e ins tal l at ions .
The phenomenon o f ion exchange was firs t inve s t igat ed
about 1 850 ,but it i s onl y within the pas t 20 years that thi s
princ ipl e has been extens ively devel oped commerc ial l y fo r
treat ing water o f l ow sal inity and for removal o f hardne s s .
59
S al t ions can be removed from s al ine water by pas s ing the
water through a bed o f ion exchange mat erial . The exchangematerial soon be come s saturat ed and mus t be regenerated by us e
o f rel at ively expens ive ac ids and bas e s . Among e ffort s dire cted
toward redu ct ion o f regenerat ion co s t s wa s some experimentat ionat the Univers ity of Cal i fornia in whi ch ammonium b i carbonatewa s us ed as a regenerant . When sal ine wat er i s pa s s ed through
such a bed , it i s demineral i zed and the effluent cons is t s of
water containing only ammonium bi carbonat e . Heat ing the s olut ionremove s the chemical as carbon dioxide and ammonia gas e s whi ch
are col l e cted and us ed again to regenerat e the exchange re s ins
in the bed . Thus , the co s tly chemi cal s us ed for regenerat ion
are repl ac ed by the act ion o f heat . However , the amount o f heat
required to operate thi s pro ce s s approa che s that re quired fora di s t il l at ion pro ce s s . The pro ce s s , though te chni cal ly
feas ibl e , i s too expens ive to be pr a ct i ca l , a nd re s earch i s now
b eing dire cted toward part ial ly so ft ening s ea wat er by d emi n e r
a l i za ti on a s a pretreatment fo r the feed wat er to a di s til l at ion
pl ant .
The extract ion of wat er from sal ine so lut ion by an
o rgani c solvent , to be re covered l ater from the extra ct ed mix
ture o f wat er and sol vent , by t emperature change , ha s b een found
suffi c iently promi s ing for further re s earch . The pro ce s s i s
under development by Texas Agri cul tural and Me chani cal Re s earch
Foundat ion , Co l l ege S tat ion , Texas , fo r the Offi c e o f Sal ineWater . Sat i s fa cto ry l aboratory equipment has indi cat ed the
de s irab il ity o f the init iat ion o f pilo t pl ant devel opment .
The init ial ins tal l at ion to be buil t under Publ i c
Law 85- 883 wil l produc e gal l ons per day o f fre sh
water and wil l b e buil t at Freeport , Texas . The plant wil l
be a 1 2 - effe ct l ong - tube vert i cal di s t il l at ion type , s imil ar
to tho s e us ed in the pul p indus t ry for concentrat ion of spent
sul fit e l iquo r . The construct ion contra c t fo r wa s
awarded to Chi cago Bridge and Iron Company in June 1 960 .
Ground- breaking c eremonie s were hel d in S eptember 1 960 . The
contra ct cal l s for cons tru ct ion and s tart - up Operat ions to be
compl eted within 330 days .
The s e cond demons tration pl ant to be buil t under the
program i s a mul ti s tage fl ash evaporat ion type o f
gal lons per day capac ity . The cons truct ion contra ct fo r thi s
pl ant , in the amount of was awarded to We s t inghous e
El e ct ri c Corporat ion in November 1 960 . The Cal ifornia Department
of Water Re sourc e s a s s i s ted in the s it e s el e c t ion for the pl ant
and conducted a detail ed survey of 1 8 propo s ed co as tal l o cat ionsfrom San Franc i s co to San Diego . The princ ipal criteria us ed
in eval uat ing the various s it e s refl e cted te chni cal and e conomi c
re quirement s a s so c iat ed with both the typ e o f pl ant and the
impac t on the lo cal ity . The evaluat ion dat a and re commendat ions
were forwarded to the Di re cto r , Offi ce o f Sa l ine Wat er , who
made the final cho i c e with the a s s i s tance o f a thre e - man s it e
s el e c t ion bo ard . The announcement o f s el e ct ion o f the Po int
Loma s it e in San Diego wa s made by S e cretary of the Interio r
S eaton on O ctober 6 , 1 959 .
The Fluor Co rporat ion of Lo s Angel e s was awarded acontract by the Offi ce o f Sal ine Water for the final de s ign
and spe c ifi cat ion o f the di st il l ation plant . Thi s de s ign wa s
ba s ed on a prel iminary de s ign study perfo rmed by the s ame
firm, the co s t o f whi ch was shared by the Federal Government
and the S tat e o f Cal ifornia . The S tate wil l al so share
e qual ly with th e Fede ral Government in the co s t o f the final
de s ign and cons truction .
The Stat e ' s co l l aborat ion in the demonstrat ion pl ant
program wil l provide us eful knowl edge fo r the de s ign , con
s truct ion , and operat ion of this type o f s ea water di st il l at ionpl ant . The Cal ifornia Department o f Water Re source s wil l l ike
wi s e ma intain act ive l iai son with the te chni cal programs o f
the demons trat ion pl ant s l o cated in other stat e s .
The third demons trat ion pl ant to b e cons tru ct ed under
Publ i c Law 85- 883 i s to be of the el e ctrodialys i s type and wil l
be us ed to convert bra ckish to fre sh wate r . I t wil l be lo cated
at Web s te r , South Dakota , and wil l have a fre sh wat er capacity
of gal lons per day . A contra ct for de s ign . and con
st ruct ion o f thi s pl ant , in the amount of wa s awarded
to A sahi Chemical Indus tri e s Company o f Japan in cooperat ionwith the Au st in Company of C level and Ohio , in November 1 960 .
The fourth demons trat ion plant to be cons truct ed
under Publ i c Law 85 - 883 i s to employ the forced - c irculat ion
vapo r compres s ion di s t il l at ion pro c e s s , and wil l conve rt
b ra cki sh wat er to fre sh wat er at a rat e o f to
gal lons per day . The pl ant i s to be l o cat ed at Ro swel l ,
New Mexi co .
The fifth pro c e s s to b e u s ed in the demons trat ion
pl ant program wil l us e th e fre e zing method . Th e type of
free z ing pro c e s s has no t been announ ced ( De cember but the
lo cat ion o f the pl ant i s Wright svil l e Beach , North Caro l ina .
Co s t Es t imate s for Sea Water Convers ion
Unfortunat ely , al though the aggregat e capa ci ty o f
convers ion pl ant s throughout the wo rld amount s to many mil l ion
gall ons per day , very l itt l e informat ion is avail abl e on wat er
co s t s ba s ed on actual pl ant operat ion . .The fact that mo s t of
the l arge di s t il l at ion pl ant s are lo cat ed o vers ea s adds to the
diffi cul ty o f s e curing co s t dat a and even tho s e obta ined cannot
b e readily appl ied to Unit ed State s condit ions b e caus e o f
differenc e s in labo r , mat erial , and fuel co s t s . Therefo re , at
the pre s ent t ime we are l argely dependent upon enginee ring
e s t imate s fo r convers ion co s t s and it must b e re cogni zed that
the s e can never be as rel iabl e as co s t s e stabl i shed by s everal
years o f operat ion o f ful l — s i z e pl ant s . One valuabl e re sul t o f
the federal convers ion pl ant program wil l b e the det erminat ion
o f a c curate co st s o f product ion of medium- s i z e pl ant s under
Unit ed Stat e s condit ions .
TABLE 1 0
COSTS OF CONVERTED WATER BASED ON
THE OPERATION OF EXISTING PLANTS
Pro c e s s Plant capa c ity , in water wat er pe r
Mul t ipl e— e ffe ctDi s t i ll at ion Aruba S ea
Mul t i stage fl ashDi s t il lat ion Kuwait S ea
Vapor Compre s s ionDi s ti ll at ion S ea
Mul t ipl e - e ffe ctDi st ill ation S ea .
Ele ctrodialys i s Bra cki sh
ppm)
_1/ Sonderman , G . E Con sul t ing Eng ineer , February 1 958 . Thi s i sa combinat ion water and power p l a nt fl
Co st o f wat er i s somewhatl e s s i f al l owance i s made for the s al e o f power .
Hearing s be fore the Sub committ ee on Irrigat ion and Re cl amat iono f the Committee on Interio r and Insul ar A ffa irs , Unit ed S tat e sS enat e , 85th Congre s s , s e cond s e s s ion on S . J . Re so lut ion 1 35and S . 3370 , March 20 and 2 1 , 1 958 , p . 1 33 .
Union Cal endar NO . 1 0 69 , Hous e Report No . 2551 . 85th Cong re s s ,
s e cond s e s s ion , Sal ine Wat er Program, thirty— first report by thecommitt ee on Government 0 e r a t i on s , Augu s t 1 3 , 1 958 , p . 20 .
( Pl ant l o cat ion not g iven?Bruce , A . W. ,
"Five Year Experience Making Fre sh Water from
S ea Water at Morro Bay Power Pl ant , Co l l oquium on De sal t ing
ga te r
6He l d at Cal ifornia In s t itut e o f Te chno logy
"
, May 5 and1 9 0 .
"
C ity Orders Sal ine Wat er Plant"
, Engineering News - Re cord ,
June 5 , 1 958 .
“Q
Q
‘5
M
The pl ant at Aruba , Netherl ands We s t Indie s , i s a
go od exampl e o f a modern s ea water convers ion pl ant o f the
mul t ipl e - e ffe ct type , for whi ch some Operat ing experienc e has
b een gained . The Aruba pl ant i s de s igned to produc e mil l ion
gal l ons o f di s t il l ed wat er dail y . In addit ion , it can generate
66
kilowatt s O f el e ctri cal energy from kilowatt s
ins tal l ed capa c ity . The capital co st o f thi s pl ant i s e s t ima ted
to be mil l ion . The capital co s t per daily gal l on o f
ins tal l ed wat er capa c ity at Aruba i s , therefo re , approximat ely
$4. However , the e l e c tri cal generat ing e quipment repre s ent s a
sub stant ial part o f the to tal inve stment and i f it were no t
required , $3 to per daily gal l on o f water capac ity woul d
be a reasonabl e e s t imat e o f the capital inve s tment for the
water and . s te am pl ant s alone . A s i s shown in Tab l e 1 0 , the
re sul t ing total water co st i s e st imated to be per
gal l ons o r $ 570 per acre - foot without all owanc e fo r the s al e o f
power . I f power were sol d at norma l whol e sal e rate s and pro fit s
appl ied to the co s t o f water , the wat er co s t might drop to about
per thousand ga l l on sL/ .
At the reque s t o f the Department o f Water Re source s,
s everal manufacturers o f di st il l ation - typ e s ea wat er convers ion
pl ant s were reque s ted to submit e s t imate s o f to tal water co s t s
invol ved in the u s e o f the ir equipment . The returns from this
survey are shown in Tabl e 1 1 . Est i mat e s varied from to
per gall ons or from about $ 1 96 to $375 per acre - foot .
The fre sh water pl ant capa c it ie s range from to
gal lons per day , the unit co st s be ing l ea st for the l arge s t
pl ant .
_1/ Sonderman , G . E . ,
"Sea Water Di st il l ation With By
- ProductPower at Aruba "
, pre s ent ed at s emi - annual convention o fASME , June 1 959
o f part s per mil l ion and 2QOOO part s per mil l ion wil l
b e and per thous and gal l ons , r e s p e ct i ve l yl / .
NO indi cat ion exi s t s o f a"breakthrough
"to greatl y
reduced convers ion co s t s by any pro ce s s known today . It may
be that some t e chnique ent irely unsu spe ct ed at the pre s ent
t ime may Offer the key to real ly cheap converted sal ine wate r .
During the pas t de cade the means o f produ c ing , from
s ea and bracki sh source s , water potabl e to man and us abl e fo r
agri cul tural and industrial purpo s e s , ha s be en under int ens ive
inve s t igat ion in the Unit ed S tat e s and abroad . Plant s toa c compl i sh such demineral i zat ion now aggregat e , worldwide ,
a daily capa c ity o f about gal l ons o f fre sh wat er
( s ee Tabl e
Pro c e s s e s for the convers ion of s ea wat er are at the
pre s ent time l argely l imit ed to dis t il l at ion te chnique s , su ch
as mul ti s tage fl ash , vapor compre s s ion , o r mul t ipl e - effe ct
submerged co il , al l o f whi ch produc e wat er at co s t s s everal
t ime s tho s e a s so c iated with no rmal development o f natural
wat er re source s . Adding to the normal co s t s , mo s t di s t il l ation
pl ant s are pl agued with probl ems o f s cal e fo rmation on heat ing
surfa c e s expo s ed to sal ine wat er . To thi s factor al one , 1 0 to
20 pe rc ent Of optimum produ ct ion is l o s t in many instal l at ions .
Thi s s cal ing probl em i s re ce iving wide and extens ive s tudy by
many intere st ed agenc ie s .
l /’
Gi l l am, W . Sherman ,
"The Co s t O f Converted Wat er Meet ing of
Ameri can Institut e of Mining , Metal lurgi cal and Pe tr oe l umEngineers , Inc . , New York , February
_ 72_
The federal demons trat ion pl ant at Po int Loma , San
Diego,Cal i fo rnia , should provide a us e ful fund of knowl edge
concerning the de s ign , cons tru ct ion , and operat ion o f a moderndi s t il l at ion pl ant . It i s not expe c ted that the Po int Loma
fac il ity wil l produc e convert ed s ea water at co s t s c ompet it ive
with fre sh water re source s devel oped and made avail abl e in
San Diego by convent ional methods .
Further re s earch effo rt s in l e s s er known demi n e r a l
i za t i on methods , such as ion exchange , fre e z ing , hydrate ,
revers e o smo s i s , and o ther more e so teri c te chnique s wil l
undoubtedly contribut e valuabl e data pert aining to future
water demineral i zat ion .
I t appears rea sonabl e to as sume that a breakthrough
to l ower to tal sal ine convers ion co s t s , if it o c curs , wil l be the
re sul t o f a vigo rous and cont inuous program o f re s earch and
devel opment . Su ch improvement may wel l invol ve a pro ce s s no t
yet known o r envi s ioned . Thi s wil l be be s t a c compl i shed by
mutual awarene s s o f the prob l ems to be s ol ved by s c ient i s t s
and engineers and wil l require the ir cl o s e and cont inuouscoo rdinated effort s .
CHAPTER III . NUCLEAR ENERGY
The harne s s ing of the world ' s natural re source s into
us eful tool s fo r t e chni c al and e conomi c development has b een
one o f hi s to ry 's mo s t s ignifi cant chal l enge s,outwe ighed only
by man ' s att empt to l ive with hi s fel l ow human b eing s . Nuc l ear
energy and it s t ransl at ion into a us eful tool i s only one
fa cet o f thi s cont inuous chal l enge , b ut the po t ent ial o f thi s
re sourc e appears so l arge that many l eaders Of s c ience and
government predi ct from it a new era O f world pro sperity andt e chni cal deve l opment .
The development of nu cl ear energy has progre s s ed at
a rapid rate , primaril y through the impetus o f World War II
and the int ens e worldwide s c ient ifi c compet it ion fol l owing
thi s war . Perhaps no industry heretofo re known has experienced
as rapid a growth as that invol ving the appl i c at ion of nucl earenergy to the bet t erment of ma nkind . In the Unit ed S tat e s
al one , thi s growth has been repre s ented by an increa s e in
employment from a handful of re s earch and l aborato ry workers in
1 940 to a l evel , in 1 960 , of wel l over peopl e . A s one
autho r has propo s ed , the e conomi c impact o f nucl ear energy i s
probably surmounted only by the indus trial revolut ion .
In spit e o f thi s unpre c edented advancement , the
s c ienc e of the atom is a s o ld as s c i ence it s el f . In fact ,
early atomi c ideas can be tra ced as far back as Demo critus and
the anc ient Gre eks . Whil e the s e cre t o f the atom took nearly
years to compl etely unfo l d , the early format ion of such
fundamental atomi c conc ept s a s tho s e propo s ed by Dal ton , Boyl e ,
Avogadro,Mendel eev , Bo l tzma n , Planck , and o thers , mus t b e
re cogni z ed .
The compl et e Opening of the fiel d of atomi c nucl e i
s tudy ,now cal l ed nuc l ear phys i c s , o c curred in the l at e nine
te enth c entury with wo rk perfo rmed by Hert z and Maxwell on
el e c tromagnet i c radiat ion , by Ro entgen on x - rays , and Be cquerel
on the natural radioac t ivity o f uranium mineral s . S oon aft er
the s e dis coverie s , man 's c onc ept ion o f the atom took a giant
s t ep fo rward with Bohr 's att empt to comb ine Newton ' s me chani c s
with Planck ' s quantum theo ry and to arrive at the so l ar sys t em
atom mode l . Thi s mode l was l at er fo l l owed by a more s oph i s t i
ca ted vers ion through the wo rk o f He i s enb erg , S chrodinger ,
Paul i , and o thers .
In 1 90 5 , Alb ert Einst e in introduc ed hi s now famous
theo ry o f rel at iv ity a theo ry which fo rms the very bas i s o f
nuc l ear energy . With the advent o f thi s conc ept , int ere s t in
nucl ear physi c s reached a new high . Po s it ive ident ifi cat ion o f
atomic s tructure and the component s o f the atom was ma de and a
wide vari ety o f new concept s was fo r mul at ed . Intens e l abo ra to ry
expe r iment s wer e init iat ed to further study the a tom mod el .
At fi rst , extreme diffi cul t i e s were encounte r e d , s in c e
too l s o f the same s i ze as the atom it s el f were ne c e s s ary for
ac curate s tudy . A s one s c i ent i s t phras ed the pro bl em,
"You
c an 't study the anatomy o f a fly with an el ephant 's fo ot .
"
The so lut ion to thi s probl em c ent ered on the s o - cal l ed
part i cl e a c c el erators , o f whi ch one o f the mo s t su c c e s s ful wa s
76
In spit e o f the publ i c ' s awarene s s o f the s e many
advanc e s and in spit e o f our l eaders 'Opt imi s t i c predi ct ions
o f the worldwide benefit s to be obtained from nucl ear ene rgy ,
one might s t il l que s t ion the need for devel opment o f thi s
re sourc e and more spe c ifi cal ly it s pot ent ial appl i cat ions to
the Cal ifornia Water Plan . Even by re cogni zing that p r a ct i
cal ly al l advanc e s in any te chni cal fi el d re sul t from man ' s
att empt s to re sol ve the unknown , and that nucl ear ene rgy has
further be en expl o ited through it s mi l itary impl i cat ions and
co l d war psycho logi cal advantage s , the que s t ion Of benefit s
t o ma nkind st ill ari s e s . Th e answer to thi s que st ion exi s t s
in re cent att empt s to take invento ry o f the world ' s fo s s il
fuel energy re source s . Whil e the s e att empt s have l ed to much
con j e cture , it has been e s t imat ed that the to tal fo s s il fuel
energy re s erve s in the wo rl d that c an be re covered at co s t s no
higher than twi c e 1 950 co s t s amount to about 2705/ ( 1 0 1 01 8
Btu , e quival ent to 40 b il l ion tons o f co al ) . S imil arly it hasbeen e s t imated that man 's pre s ent u s e o f energy amount s to
approximately O. 1 Q per year . Thus , with no increas e in the rate
o f consumpt ion the worl d ' s fo s s il energy re s erve s would be
suffi c ient fo r about 270 years .
However , the worl d ' s popul at ion i s increa s ing rapidly ,
and with this increa s e the s tandard o f l iving i s progre s s ing
at an ac c el erat ed rate . Cons equently , any attempt to extrapol ate
today 's rat e o f energy consumption into the di st ant future
mus t al l ow fo r a cont inuing annual increa s e . A logi c al approach
was pre s ent ed in a paper by Profe s so r E . S . Mason , o f Harvard
1 7”Energy i n the Future
"
, by Palmer Co s s l e tt Putnam
78
Univers ity , at the 1 955 Geneva Conferenc e on Peace ful Us e s o f
Nucl ear Ene rgy . In thi s paper Mason sugges t s that an annual
rat e o f increa s e in world ene rgy consumption o f three to four
percent per year i s probabl e , a rat e whi ch re sul t s in the
doubl ing o f ene rgy con sumpt ion by about the year 1 980 , and a
th r e e f o l d \to f ivefold increas e by the year 20 0 0 . By as suming
that this rat e o f increas e i s repre s entat ive , the wo rld 's
fo s s il fuel energy re source s wil l be depl eted in about 1 0 0
years .
Whil e the pre s ent analys i s doe s no t ne ce s sarily fo re
cas t a wo rldwide shortage o f energy re s erve s and whil e it i s
true that new re s erve s wil l be di s covered and new pro ce s se s
invented to e conomi cal ly mine l e s s attract ive fo s s il energy
re sourc e s,the pi cture i s cl ear that the addit ion o f a new
energy re sourc e i s a ne ce s s i ty to man ' s cont inued progre s s .
When appl ied to spec ifi c countrie s thi s nec e s s ity be come s even
more - evident,
cons idering that many o f the s e countrie s impo rt
the ir fo s s il fuel s from vast d i s tan ce s h Thi s condit ion i s
part i cul arly true in the We st ern Eur po e a n countrie s who s e com
pl a te indus t rial e conomy depends heavily upon the s e import s .
The s ituat ion was ably emphas i z ed in February 1 955
in the s o - cal l ed Brit i sh”White Paper
"
, ent itl ed"
A Programme
o f Nu cl ear Power pre s ent ed to the Brit i sh Parl iament by the
Lo rd Pre s ident o f the Counc il and the Mini s t er Of Fuel and
Power . Thi s paper concl uded that
" Our c ivil i zat ion i s bas ed on power ; improvedl iving standards
,both in advanced indust rial countri es
l ike our own and in the vast underdevel oped countrie sovers eas
,can only come about through the increas ed
79
u se o f power . The rat e o f increas e required i s sogreat that it wil l tax the exi st ing re source s o f energyto the utmo s t . What eve r the immediat e uncertaint ie s ,
nu c l ear energy wil l in t ime be capabl e o f produc ingpower e conomical ly . Moreover , it provide s a sourc eo f energy potent ial ly much great er than exi st s now .
The coming of nucl ear powe r ma rks the b eginning o f
a new era .
"
To il lu s trat e how nucl ear energy ma y a s s i st tho s e
count rie s su ch as Great Britain in the ir cont inued e conomi cgrowth
,s everal compari sons ma y be made . Of primary s i gn i f i
c an ce i s the fa ct that ma ny o f tho s e countrie s l a cking mineral
fuel re sourc e s have a l arge abundanc e o f nu cl ear fuel re source s .
Obvious ly the development of e conomi c nucl ear power woul d as s i s t
cons iderably in the growth o f the s e countrie s . But even tho s e
countrie s with neither nu cl ear nor mineral fuel re source s may
gain a cons ide rabl e advant age from the devel opment o f nuc l ear
power , s ince the u s eful energy content per unit weight of
nuc l ear fuel s i s pract i cal ly a mil l ion t ime s th at o f coal . The
e conomi c advantage in transpo rt ing nucl ear fuel s rather than
fo s s il fuel s would be cons ide rabl e .
But perhap s the mo s t s ign ifi c ant advantage re s t s in
the avail ab il ity Of future nuc l ear energy re s erve s . Whil e nofirm e s t imate s o f this avail ab il ity exi s t , the known re s erve s
o f uranium o re amount to a two or thre e hundred years ' energy
supply ; tho s e o f thorium ore appear even l arger ; and the
suppl ie s o f deut erium o r"heavy hydrogen the is otope fo rming
the bas is o f the fus ion react ion,are almo s t unl imi t ed .
Whil e the above argument s il l us trat e the po t ent ial
advantage s to the wo rl d o f devel op ing a new energy re source ,
they are not ne ce s s arily pert inent to the Cal i fornia Wat er Plan .
80
de finabl e,but whateve r the ir nature the energy requirement s
wil l be cons iderabl e . A s such , nu c l ear energy may be a s i gn i f i
cant contributo r to the s e requirement s , not only be cau s e o f it s
prev ious ly mentioned advantage s , b ut be caus e o f the fact that
a nucl ear heat energy sys t em has c ertain e conomi c advantage s
when appl ied to a dis t il l at ion pro c e s s , the mo s t widely u s ed
c onvers ion t e chnique employed today .
Fundamental s o f Nu cl ear Energy
Whil e this bul l et in i s not intended to b e a th eo r et i
c al expl anat ion Of the field o f nucl ear energy , the under
st anding o f c ertain fundamental nucl ear conc ept s and t erminol ogy
i s ne ce s sary fo r compl ete comprehens ion o f material pre s ented
el s ewhere in the report . Thi s s e c t ion wil l att empt to pre s ent
the s e concept s .
The Atom
The ba si c cons t ituent of al l ma t ter i s the atom ;hence , the t ermino logy o f atomi c phys i c s , atom bomb , atomi c
power , et c i However , the atom it s e l f i s compo s ed of s everal
subatomic part i cl e s , the arrangement and quant ity o f whi ch
dete rmine th e bas i c phys i c al and chemical propert ie s o f the
spe c ifi c atom .
The primary subatomi c part i cl e s invol ved in atomic
s tructure ar e the el e ctron , pro ton , and neutron . The arrange
ment o f the s e part i c l e s i s o ft en repre s ented by the sol ar
sys tem atom model , in which part i cl e s o f smal l ma s s ro tat e in
orb it s at a rel at ively l arge di st anc e and velo c i ty about a
c entral part ic l e o r conc ent rat ed group o f part i c l e s o f l arge
mas s as shown in Figure 1 6 .
9 E lec t ron
i tI
MOLECULE OF CARBON DIOXIDE
P roton
F ig ure 1 6
ATOM AND MO LECULE MODEL
N eut ron
The ma s s number ( A ) o f an atom i s e quival ent to the
number o f protons and neutrons cont ained in the atom ' s nu cl eus .
Thus , an atom with a ma s s numbe r o f 5 contains a to tal of five
pro tons and neutrons , and one of a ma s s number 235 , contains a
total Of 235 pro tons and neut rons . By knowing the atomi cnumber ( Z ) and ma s s number ( A ) o f an atom , it i s ea sy to det er
mine the number o f neut rons ( N ) in the atom ' s nucl eus s inc e
N z A - Z o
I sotope s
It i s int ere s ting to not e that by definit ion o f an
e l ement , any change in the numbe r o f pro tons in the nuc l eus
would mean the creat ion o f a different el ement . Fo r ins tanc e ,
i f we added one pro ton to the nucl eu s of an atom o f uranium,
atomic number 92 , we woul d have an atom of atomi c number 93
call ed neptunium . On the other hand , i f we added three neutrons
to an atom Of uranium, o f ma s s number 235 , we would s t il l have
an atom of uranium, b ut with ma s s number 238 . The atoms o f an
el ement having dif ferent - ma s s . numb e r s are cal l ed i sotope s , andthe s e i so tope s are usual ly expre s s ed by abbreviat ions s imil ar
to U- 235 ( a uranium atom with a ma s s number of o r U- 238
( a uranium atom with a mas s number o fIt i s po s sibl e to have ma ny different i sotope s o f a
g iven el ement . Certain i sotope s are s tabl e whil e others can
exi s t only fo r very sho rt periods O f t ime . Th e rea son fo r
this i s that th e comb inat ions O f fo rc e s within the atom 's
nucl eu s al l ows only c ertain pro ton—neutron comb i na t i on s .
/
Any
att empt to al t er the s e combinat ions by adding neutrons pl ac e s
the nucl eus in an exc it ed and unstabl e s tate . Once thi s
exc ited s tat e i s reached , the atom may exhib it any one o f
s everal phys i cal propert ie s . The u sual event is for the atomto emit some so rt o f atomic radiat ion in the fo rm of alpha ,
b et a , o r gamma rays . The s e radiat ions are a re sul t o f the
de compo s it ion o f one or more o f the nuc l eus part i cl e s . In
the cours e o f this de compo s ition , the atom wil l usual l y be come
a more s tabl e i s otope o f the same el ement or o f a different
e l ement . The l ength of t ime fo r thi s de compo s it ion to o c cur
i s expre s s ed in terms o f hal f - l ive s , whi ch i s the t ime required
for hal f o f a g iven ma s s o f an el ement to de cay into a
s e condary i sotope . Hal f- l ive s vary from a few mil l ionths O f a
s e cond to mil l ions o f years .
Be cau s e atomi c radiat ions can be measured with a pp r op
riate ins trument s , the u s e Of radioac t ive i so tope s has gained
increa s ing prominenc e in a wide variety of s c ient ifi c fiel ds .
Indi cat ion of a ctual and po s sibl e u se s of isotope s by the
Depar tment of Water Re source s i s pre s ent ed in the s e ct ion
ent it l ed I so tope Appl i cat ions"
.
Fi s s ion
A se cond po s s ib il ity o f the exc it ed nucl eus i s it s
di s int egrat ion into many subatomic part i cl e s and s e condary
i so tope s Of varying mas s and atomi c number . Thi s event i s
t ermed " fis s ion Of nearly 250 natural ly o c curring i sotope s
found in the earth ' s surface , only one , uranium- 235 , wil l
undergo fi s s ion . However , the i so tope s thorium—232 and
uranium- 238 ,both of whi ch are found in abundance , may ab sorb
neutrons to b e come the radioa ct ive i so tope s , tho rium— 233 and
85
uranium- 239 . The s e i so tope s in turn wil l de cay into the
fi s s ionabl e spe c ie s , uranium- 233 and plutonium— 239 .
In the cours e o f fi s sion some o f the mas s o f the
o rig inal atom i s converted into energy in ac co rdanc e with
Einst e in ' s famous ma s s - energy e quat ion , E mc2 , which s tat e s
that ma s s can be trans formed into energy . In addit ion ,
neutrons are emitted , thus enabl ing the fi s s ion to progre s s
into a chain react ion . Fo r ins tanc e , in the fi s s ion o f
uranium~ 235 be tween two and thre e neut rons on the average areemitt ed , thereby making po s s ibl e two to three s e cond generat ion
fi s s ions for each o riginal fi s s ion . Thi s i s exa ctly what
happens in an atomi c fi s s ion bomb , a rapidly diverging fi s s ion
chain react ion o c curring almo s t inst antaneou s ly with a corre s
ponding l arge rel ea s e o f energy as il lus t rat ed in Figure 1 7 .
Fus ion
One phenomenon o f nu cl ear energy i s fi s sion ; but
atomic theory shows u s that there i s ano ther source o f nuc l ear
energy cal l ed fu s ion . Fus ion i s the comb inat ion o f atoms o f
one el ement into s tabl e i sotope s o f ano ther el ement .
To i l lu s trat e , hydrogen , atomi c number 1 , i s known
t o hav e three isotope s o f ma s s numbers 1 , 2 , and 3 . The i so
tope with ma s s number 2 i s cal l ed deut erium or heavy hydrogen
and is found in pract i cal l y every source o f wat e r . It contains
one proton and one neutron in it s nu cl eus . The i so tope with
ma s s number 3 , containing one pro ton and two neutrons , i s
c all ed trit ium . Hel ium, atomi c number 2 , has a ma s s numb er of
4, thus having two pro tons and two neutrons in it s nucl eu s .
- 86 _
Theore t i c al ly, it should be po s s ibl e to fus e two atoms of
deuterium into one atom o f hel ium . I f thi s coul d be done , a
l arge energy rel eas e would o c cur be caus e the ma s s o f one
hel ium atom i s somewhat l e s s than that of two deut erium atoms .
Other fus ion react ions invol ving i sotope s o f hydrogen and
hel ium and rel ea s ing l arge amount s o f energy are al so th eo r e
t i c al ly po s s ibl e .
Unfortunat ely , there are many fo rc e s preventing
fus ion o f hydrogen atoms , s ince hydroge n phys i cal ly i s a very
stabl e el ement and offers cons ide rabl e re s i s tanc e to change in
i t s atomi c s tru cture . The only apparent means to overcome
thi s re s i s tanc e s eems to b e through ul t ra—high temperature s ,
perhaps a s high as s everal hundred mil l ion degree s Fahrenheit .
Whil e it i s pre sumed that the s e temperature s are reached in
the detonat ion of fus ion bomb s by the explo s ion o f fi s s ion
devi c e s , the anal ogy i s hardly appl i cabl e to peace ful us e s o f
fu s ion energy . To date , al l attempt s to c reate fu s ion energy
in the l abo ratory have fail ed and the pro spe ct for su c c e s s
s eems many years away .
Be caus e o f the many diffi cul t probl ems remaining to
b e so lved fo r pract i cal us e o f fu s ion energy , our intere st in
thi s bul l et in wil l b e confined to fis sion energy . Neverthel e s s ,
it should be re cogni zed that fus ion repre s ent s a tremendous
energy source,and may eventual ly be come a mo s t impo rtant
facto r in supplying energy to meet the world ' s needs .
Re l at ive amount s o f energy rel eas ed from various
type s of react ions involving one pound of various material s ,
as compared to coal , are shown in Tabl e 14.
- 87
TABLE 14
RELATIVE QUANTITIES OF ENERGYCONTAINED IN ONE POUND OF VARIOUS MATERIALS
Combus t ion o f co al
Combus t ion o f o il
Fi s s ion of uranium
Fusion , deuterium to hel ium- 3
Fus ion , trit ium to hel ium- 4
Fu s ion , hydrogen to hel ium- 4
Annihilat ion of any matt er
Nu cl ear energy wil l no t dire ctly operat e el e ctri c
l ight s , propel ship s , o r convert s ea water to fre sh water .
Inst ead , energy in the form of either heat , mot ion , o r el e c
t r i ci ty i s re quired . Heat i s the bas i c energy fo rm derived
from nucl ear fi s s ion and the machine devi s ed fo r trans ferring
thi s heat to a c ircul at ing fluid , such as water o r gas , i s
c al l ed a reactor . A variety of rea ctor type s has b een con
ce i ved and the purpo s e o f thi s s e ct ion wil l b e to expl ain tho s e
react o r concept s whi ch have pro ven to be pract i c al o r appear
to b e mo st feas ibl e , and to indi c at e the inherent advantage s
and di sadvantage s o f each type .
( average )
lb s o f co alBtu tons
o f co al
Btu tonso f coal
Btu tonsof coal
Btu = l l , 5OO tonsof co al
Btu
tons o f co al
The fuel cycl e i s a mo st important parameter in
rea cto r con cept s , s ince many o f the predi ct ed e conomi c a dvan
tage s o f nucl ear energy wil l o c cur through the devel opment o f
unique fuel cycl e s . In View o f the s everal po s s ibl e fuel com
b i na t i on s ,many reac tor conc ept s with different fuel cycl e s
have be en propo s ed .
It wil l b e re cal l ed that there are th r e e _ f i s s i ona b l e
i sotope s , U- 235 ( uranium ) , Pu - 239 ( plutonium ) , and U- 233 , o f
whi ch only U—235 i s found natural l y . Unfortunat ely , natural
uranium i s compo s ed of only percent o f U—235 , the rema in
ing metal be ing U—238 . Th e pro ce s s by which U- 235 i s s eparated
from U- 238 i s very expens ive , thus making the co s t s o f a
rel at ivel y pure U- 235 fuel exc e s s ively high . However , it i s
po s s ibl e to de s ign a reacto r fo r us e o f e ither natural uranium
or enriched uranium ( uranium in whi ch the conc ent ration o f
U- 235 i s increas ed by varying percentage s above the natural conc entrat ion ) . The advantage s of natural uranium as a fuel are
twofo ld .
The firs t advantage i s that the o rig inal co s t o f
fuel i s much lower than that o f pure o r enri ched U- 235 . The
s e cond advantage depends on the fact that U- 238 i s a fert il e
i so tope ( fert il e means that the i s o tope may be converted to a
fi s s ionabl e spe c ie ) s inc e the U—238 atoms wil l ab so rb some o f
the neutrons creat ed in the U- 235 fi s s ion react ion and be con
verted to Pu - 239 atoms , whi ch are fi s s ionabl e . The s e cond
advantage therefo re i s due to the fact that addit ional fuel i s
c reat ed , adding to the heat energy that ma y be extrac ted from
the fuel e l ement s or inc reas ing the amount o f fi s s ionabl e
90
mate rial that may be obtained ( together with un f i s s i oned U- 235 )
by s eparat ion from the irradiat ed fuel removed from the reacto r .
A s imil ar s ituat ion o c curs with reacto rs de s igned to us e U- 233
as fuel , with thorium a s the fert il e ma terial . Diagram o f a
typi c al rea ctor fuel cycl e i s shown bel ow
Pu - 2
Reactors whi ch generate fuel a s they produc e power
are cal l ed"regenerators There are two spe c ial ca s e s o f
regenerato rs , de s ignat ed breeders"and
"converters " . In a
"
breeder"rea ctor , the consumed and produ ced spe cie s are
ident i cal , su ch a s Pu - 239 produ cing new atoms o f Pu - 239 from
U- 238 . In a"converter a different spe c ie s i s produc ed than
that consumed , a s when Pu - 239 i s produ ced from U- 238 . Regenera
t ion offers the exc it ing pro spect O f increa s ing by manyfol d
exi s t ing supply of fi s s ionabl e ma t erial , as sugge st ed by the
fact that natural uranium contains 140 atoms o f fert il e material
( U- 238 ) to each atom of fi s s ionabl e material ( U
A s previou sly ment ioned , nucl ear energy must be
converted to a more us eful form , e ither as heat , mot ion , or
el e ctri c ity . All pre s ently pra ct ical reactor type s ac compl ish
thi s trans format ion through the s teps shown in the fo l l owing
diagram
The po s s ib il it ie s o f convert ing nuc l ear energy
dire ct ly into el e ctri c energy , o r heat energy dire ct ly into
e l e ctri cal,are pre s ently be ing inve s t igat ed , but to dat e no
e conomic al s cheme has evo l ved . Therefo re , the firs t s t ep in
making us e o f nucl ear energy in a pract i cal ma chine i s to
trans fo rm it into heat energy . This convers ion is a rel at ively
s impl e pro ce s s , s in ce the nuc l ear energy i s repre s ented mainly
by the velo c ity of the fis s ion fragment s and the sl owing down
of the s e fragment s , as o c curs in the fuel , t rans fo rms thi s
energy into heat . The hea t is remo ved by a c ircul at ing fluid ,
e ither l iquid o r gas , which fl ows through th e reacto r and thence
through a heat exchanger fo r the generat ion o f steam , o r , as in
the bo il ing water type of reacto r , dire ct ly to a turb ine . I n
either cas e , the heat ene rgy in th e st eam is converted to
mechanical power in the turb ine , wh i ch i n turn - drive s a genera
to r for furth er convers ion to e l e ctr i ca l energy ;
S tructural material s a r e very i mportant in nuc l ear
reac to r t e chno logy . In fact , nuc l ear reactors have required
the development o f a wide variety o f new s tructura l meta l s and
al l oys . Fo r ins tanc e , the fue l el ement c l adding ( in some
rea cto r types the fue l i s in rod or pl ate fo rm and mus t b e en
c as ed fo r protect ion ) and the reac tor co re s t ructure mus t not
only Offer unique s tructural propert i e s , but they mus t al so b e
co rro s ion re s i sta nt and mus t b e re s is tant to the ab sorpt ion o f
neutrons . On the other hand , the rea c tor shielding and contro l
material s mus t have the ab il ity to ab sorb the vari ous type s O f
nuc l ea r radiat i ons .
t o generat e s t eam fo r a turbine . To prevent bo il ing and s t il l
Obtain the temperature s required for effi c ient turbine
generators,the reacto r i s operat ed at high pre s sure s , in the
range of pounds per s quare inch - hence the name pre s sur
i zed water reacto r .
The fuel el ement s in the PWR are u sual ly enri ched
uranium rods or pl ate s cl ad in zi rconium o r stainl e s s ste el ,
al though aluminum ha s b een sugge s ted fo r low - temperature
appl i cat ions . The s e el ement s are arranged in a l att i c e - typ e
configurat ion . S imil arly , the rea cto r core i s usual ly made o f
s tainl e s s s t eel with carbon s t e el be ing sugge s t ed fo r po s s ibl e
l ow - temperature appl i cat ions . Cont rol i s u sual ly maintained
through the ins ert ion and withdrawal o f boron s tainl e s s st e el
rods , bo ron be ing a high neutron ab sorber .
The advantage s O f the PWR are it s rea sonabl e fuel
e conomy , high conve rs ion rat io , us e o f rel at ively cheap water ,
and the ext ens ive experienc e gained with it . Di sadvantage s
inc lude the high pre s sure re quirement s , the corro s ivene s s o f
ho t wat er , the high co s t o f fuel fabri cat ion , and the need for
additional heat exchange equipment fo r the product ion o f s t eam .
To ove rcome some o f the di sadvantage s o f the PWR ,
the bo il ing water rea cto r ( BWR ) was conce ived and i s rapidly
be ing devel oped . It s charact eri s t i c s are very s imil ar to the
PWR with the except ion that bo il ing i s al l owed in the core .
By all owing bo il ing , the requirement s o f higher pre s sure s and
addit ional heat exchange equipment are removed . Hence , the
. 94.
BWR require s lower capital inve s tment than the pre s suri zed
water reacto r .
Othe r advantage s o f the BWR include the lower
c o rro s ivene s s Of st eam . Di sadvantage s are repre s ented by higher
fuel co s t s , radioact ive contaminat ion o f the st eam turbine , and
diffi cul ty in contro l . A further di sadvantage , shared by the
PWR , i s that pre s ent de s igns do not generate superheated s t eam,
a fac to r whi ch l imit s turbine effi c ienc ie s . Future de s igns may
a l l eviat e thi s condition by r e — cycl ing the st eam through the
cent er o f the rea cto r core o r by o ther means .
There are c ertain advantage s to the u s e o f heavy
water versu s l ight wat er in both the pre s suri zed and the bo il ing
reacto r type s and cons iderabl e devel opmental work i s be ing done
with heavy water a s a coo l ant and moderato r . Heavy water i s
c ompo s ed o f deut erium ( hydrogen i sotope o f ma s s number and
although it s propert ie s as a moderato r are not quit e as good
as l ight water , it s neutron e conomy i s cons iderably bett er .
Be caus e o f thi s e conomy , fuel co s t saving s in heavy wat er
reacto rs are extremely l ikely . On the other hand , heavy wat er ,
whi ch i s produc ed by s eparat ion from normal water , where it
exi s t s in the rat io O f 1 60 part s per mill ion , i s pri c ed at $28
per pound by the Atomic Energy Commi s s ion . Therefore , a
reacto r whi ch us e s heavy wat er woul d require higher capital
inve stment,both in the co st o f the heavy water it s el f and in
the ne ce s sary re finement s in equipment required to prevent
l eakage .
Of further intere s t i s the fac t that the mo st advanc ed
de s igns o f the PWR al low some bo il ing within the reac to r core ,
whil e tho s e o f the BWR tend to re s t ri ct bo il ing . It i s
ext remely po s s ibl e that the s e two concept s are po int ing toward
the s ame goal and that mere l y a”
wat er rea ctor wil l evo l ve .
OgganicModerated Re actor
It h a s b ee n po inte d out that th e PWR re q uire s high
pres s ur e to pr ev ent b oi l ing, wh i l e th e BWR pr e s ents d i fficul ty
in pr ovi di ng s uper h e a t , To ove r come the s e prob l ems , i t-was
prop os ed to us e cool ants wh os e bo i l i ng po i nt s a r e we l l above
the tempe r a tur e s r eq u i red to s uper h ea t s team. From the s e
-
p ropos a l s s ever a l rea ctor conce pts ha ve evo lved .
One of the s e i s th e o r ga ni c mode r ated r eactor ( OMR) ,
a r eactor type wh i ch now i s o f f e r ing economic compe t i tion to
th e wate r type s y s tems .'Th i s r eactor us e s any o f s e ve r a l
organi c sub stance s , s uch a s d i ph eny l , a s bo th a mod era to r and
coo l ant . The s e s ub s tances o f f e r r ea sona bl e mode r a to r and
neutr on economy pr ope r ti es , a l though th e i r h ea t tr ans f er ch ar
a cte r i sti cs a r e l e s s fa vor abl e than water . Fu el in pre s ent OMR
de s igns i s compo s ed o f uran ium al loyed with mol ybdenum and i s
i n p late f orm .
The advantage s o f th e OMR conc ept inc lude the po s s i
b i l i ty o f superheat ed s team pr oduct ion , l ow capital co s t ,
neg l igibl e corro s ivene s s , and excel l ent safety chara ct eri s t i c sunder proper de s ign condit ions . Di s advantage s include high
fuel fabri cat ion co s t , po s s ibl e de compo s it ion of organi c
mode rato r , and le s s effi c i ent heat trans fer
A ll the rea ctor conc ept s prev iou sly de s c ribed are
of heterogeneous type , that i s , the fuel and coo lant are
s eparate . It i s reasonabl e to suppo s e that certain e conomie s
may be gained by comb ining fuel , coo l ant , and mode rato r into
one medium . This syst em has evol ved into the homogeneous
reacto r .
The advantage s o f thi s conc ept are many , o f whi ch
the el imi nat ion o f fuel fabri cat ion co s t s , cont inuous fuel
pro ce s s ing , good ove ral l heat t rans fer charact eri s t i c s , and
po s s ib il it ie s o f s el f - contro l are the mo s t important . But
with today ' s t e chnology , the probl ems yet to be re solved in
the homogeneous rea cto r are cons iderabl e . Such cons ide rat ions
a s co rro s ion , containment o f radioa ct ivity, equipment forcoupl ing nucl ear , h yd r odyn ami c, a nd me chani cal syst ems , and
maintenanc e are s t il l in the re s earch s tage . Unt i l the s e
prob l ems are re so lved , a ful l evaluat ion of the homogeneous
rea cto r c annot be made .
Fa st Breeder Reacto r
An advanced conc ept i s embodied in the fas t breeder
rea cto r . Thi s reactor has a doubl e purpo s e - to produ ce powe r
and to breed fuel .
In fast breeder rea cto rs , no mode rato r i s required
s ince the reacto r ut il i ze s fa st neutrons . Thi s re sul t s in
an advantage in the convers ion o f the fert il e mat erial s ince
higher neutron e conomies prevail in the fas t neutron range .
In experiment s with fas t b reeder rea cto rs , l iquid sodium has
b een us ed a s a coo lant .
Le p u s s i p i o u e l n g mo r e s o a n i s c o n s ume
reacto r co re s i ze , and good heat removal charact eri s t i c s .
Di s advantage s include the diffi cul t ie s in handl ing l iquid
s odium , fas t - act ing control sys tem requirement , and fuel hand
l ing probl ems .
There are other type s o f reactors whi ch offer even
more novel appro aches than the fas t breeder reactor to the
probl em o f convert ing nucl ear energy to us abl e energy . Su ch
c onc ept s include the mol ten s al t , pebbl e bed , bo il ing sulphur ,
fl uidi zed fuel , therma l breeder , and dus t fuel ed reacto rs .
The pot ent ial o f the s e concept s i s unknown , but with future
deve lopment the e conomi c and te chni cal promis e o f any o f
the s e type s may compl etely outmode the bett er known concept s
o f today .
Nuc l ear Power Co s t s
The e conomic s of nuc l ear power are pre sently sub j e c t
to muc h c onj e c ture and supported with very l itt le experienc e in
operating plant s s inc e tho se reac tors now under c ons truc tion or
in ac tual operation are produc t s o f the firs t genera t ion of
nuc l ear powe r . Sinc e firs t generat ion produc t s of any te c hnic alinnovation inc lude large re s earc h and devel opment c o s t s , i t i s
obvious th at the s e reac tors pre s ent an ina dequa te me a sure of the
pre sent and future ec onomi c po tent ial of nuc l ear power . Pre sent
c o st e s timate s of nuc l ear power mus t perforc e be la rge ly derive d
from de s ign s tudie s , experimentat ion , a nd a s sumptions .
Pre s ent Co s t s
C o st s of the fi rs t ful l - s c a l e c ivi l ian power reac torbui l t in th e United State s ( at Shippingport , Pennsylvania ) arean exc e l lent example o f the opera tion o f thi s princ iple . When
re search and deve l opment c o s t s are a dded to th o s e of de s ign andc onstruc tion of the Shippingport reac tor , powe r c o s t s exc e ed
fi ve c ent s per ki l owatt - hour , a c o s t s e veral time s of c onventionaltherma l power plant s and a s muc h a s 1 0 time s the pre dic te d ul t i
mate c o s t s of nuc l ear power .
Ac curate co s t e s tima t ing i s fur ther handic apped by
the fac t that the Shippingport reac tor i s the only rea c tor
in the United State s from which a f air amount of ope rat ing
experienc e u seful for e c onomi c analysi s ha s be en gained . Thi s
s ituation wil l gradual ly be c lari fie d , however , with the sta rt - up
1 0 0
intere s t rate s,taxe s , insuranc e , the power output of th e
p l ant ,pl ant fac tor , and the expe c te d l ife time of the e quipment
and struc tural c omponent s of the pl a nt .
Fue l cyc l e c o s t s are simply the c o st of fue l for the
plant . They are analogou s to th e c o s t o f ga s or o i l , f or the
conventional power pl ant .
Inventory ch arge s are th e c arrying charge s appl ied
to fuel kept on h and for reac tor refue l ing or in the s tage of
reproc e s sing . Be cau se of th e h eavy inve stment in thi s fue l ,
c a rrying charge s mu s t be appl ie d . In heavy water reac tors , an
additional inventory charge i s a ppl ied to the heavy wate r it se l f
in view of it s la rge c o st .
Operat ion and maintenanc e c o st s , a s th e name s imply ,
inc lude supervi s ion and a dmi ni stration, ope rat ion and maintena nc elabor , and ma t erial s and suppl ie s .
Be c aus e c a pita l c o st s are th e mo s t importa nt fac torsin th e fixed ch arge cat egory , i t i s u s eful to i l lu s tra te the
c a pital c o st s of nuc l ear power pl ant s pre sently opera ble , being
cons truc ted , and planne d . Tabl e 1 5 l i st s c apital c o s t s of a
number of repre sentative plant s , of wh ic h al l are advanc e e st i
ma te s exc ept for Shippingport and Dre sden .
C ertain trends are noti c e abl e from thi s tabl e . Among
the s e i s the general rul e th at the l a rge r the reac tor , the
sma l l er the unit c apital c o s t per ki l owatt . Thi s charac teri s ti c
i s true in conventional power pl ant s , but i s even more
1 0 2
TABLE 1 5
GENERAL DATA ON NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS
I N THE UNI TED STATES AND THE BRI TI SH COMMONWEAL
Locat i on Re a ctor
Penn syl van i a
New York
I nd i an Point New York
Wi s cons i n
Ca l i f orni a
South Dakota
Oh i o
Enr i co
Hi nkl ey Engl and
1 Cos t s of Nucl ea r Powe r ,Jul y 1 959
_ 1 03_
Status :capa ci ty , i n zdol l a r s pe r
b ui l t
Be i ng
b ui l t
Be i ng
b ui l t
Be i ng
b ui l t
Be i ng
b ui l t
Of f i ce of Techn i ca l Se r vi ce s ,
pronounc ed i n nuc l ea r power plant s . For thi s rea son , we ma y
ant i c ipate that nuc l ear power plant s o f the future wi l l be
fairly large in c apac i ty .
A se c ond trend in th e c apital c o s t of nuc l e ar power
plant s , th ough not r e adily appar ent from the tabl e , i s the down
ward uni t cap i ta l c o s t with each new propo s al . The first nuc l earpowe r p l ants re qui re d th e deve lopment of new ma terial s and
equi pment , f abr i cation and a s sembly to rigid spec ifi c at ions ,
elabor ate i ns trumentation , and extreme pr ovi sions f or safe ty .
Wi th i ndu s tr y now h aving gaine d experienc e with new ma terial sand te chni que s , c o s t s dependent upon th e se fac tors are de c rea s ing .
In addi t i on , nuc lear powe r i s be c oming an indu s try - supporte d
produc t , and th e s piri t of Ameri can ente rpri s e ha s c reated
c ompet it i on among the indus trie s produc ing di f ferent reac t ortype s , ine vitably l e ading to lower c o s t s .
Future Co s t s
There se ems to be general agre ement among workersin the fie l d of atomi c ene rgy that atomic power in the Uni ted
State s wi l l be c ome c ompe t itive with c onventional power , at l ea s t
in high - c o s t energy area s , by about 1 970 . To make thi s po s sibl e ,
s trong e ffort s mus t be made to s impl ify de sign , to inc rea seth ermal effi c i enc ie s , to de c rea se c ons tru c t ion c o st s , to ge t
maximum energy out of the fue l , and to minimi z e operation and
maintenanc e c o st s . The goal o f c ompet i tive atomic power c annot
be reached with the c ons truc tion of a few experimental and
to be about se ven mi l l s pe r ki lowatt - hour for a 30 0 megawatt
s ingle - unit s tat ion , operating a t an 80 perc ent load fac tor , wi th
1 4 perc ent fixed charge rate on an e s timated c api tal c o s t of $ 1 66
per kilowatt . Competi t ive nuc l ear power i s c onsi dered t o be
ac hieve d when uti l i t ie s are a ble to bui l d and Operate nuc l ear
power plant s on th e ba si s of the ir e c onomic adva ntage . Prima ry
empha si s in the program wa s pla c ed on l a rge power reac tors of 30 0
megawatt c a pac i ty , s inc e i t i s in th e l arger s i z e s that the
nuc l ear plant wil l mo s t qui ckly prove e c onomic .
Capi tal C o st s
A s the ba s i s of i t s l o- year program, the Atomi c Energy
Commi s s ion evaluated e ight ma j or reac tor c onc ept s currently under
deve lopment in the c ivi l ian reac tor deve lopment program, e s tabl i shedth e pre sent e c onomic and te chno logic a l statu s of eac h c onc ept ,
de l ineated the spe c i fi c te chni c al improvement s that c oul d be fore
seen for eac h , and made e st ima te s of the impac t the se improvement swoul d h ave on the c o s t of nuc l ear power . The c ommi s si on al sooutl ined the deve lopment program , inc luding c o s t e stimate s , thatwou l d be nee de d to real i ze the improvement s . The c o s t datadeve lope d during th i s study are tabulated in Tabl e 1 6 . I t wi l l
be noted that , in a number of ca s e s , the c apital c o s t s of future
plant s are only s l ightly above $20 0 per ki lowatt , and the re sul t
ing powe r c o st s are be twe en seven and e ight mi l l s per kil owatt
hour . Al so , in one c a se ( organi c ) , the c apital and power c o s t s
are we l l bel ow $20 0 per ki lowatt and seven mi l l s per kil owatt - hour ,
re spe c tive ly .
- 1 0 6
An enc ouraging de ve l opment , tending to support the
Atomi c Energy Commi s s ion f orec a s t s , i s th e seriou s c onsiderat ion
being given by two l eading uti l i ti e s in Cal ifornia - the Pac ifi c
Ga s and Ele c tri c C ompany and th e Southe rn Cal i fornia Edi son
Company - to th e c ons truc t ion of a large nuc l e ar power pl ant in
each of their re spe c tive syst ems . South ern Cal ifornia Edi son
Company ha s rec ently c onc luded negotiations with We st inghous e
and Bec hte l C orporation for the de s ign and c onstruc tion of a
375 megawatt pre s suri ze d wate r reac tor power plant to be l o c ated
in th e Southern Cal i fornia area . Studi e s ma de by the c ompany
have indi c ated that suc h a plant woul d be e c onomi c al ly c ompet itive
with c onventional fue l pl ant s , when c onsidered for the duration
of the plant ' s operat ing l ife . Th e e s t imated capital c o s t
approache s 78 mil l ion dol lars , about $208 per kil owatt , and thus
i s somewhat lowe r th an the future predic t ed c o st of'
a largepre s suri zed water pl ant in the Atomic Energy C ommi s s ion program,
a s l i s ted in Table 1 6 .
Another rec ent C al ifornia de vel opment i s the ac c eptanc e
by the Atomic Energy Commi s s ion of a j o int propo sal from the
C itie s of Lo s Ange le s and Pa sadena , to bui l d a ki l owatt
boil ing wat er reac tor power pl ant . The c i ti e s wi l l provide the
s ite and the tur b ogene r a t i ng e quipment , whil e th e Atomi c Energy
Commi s s ion wil l procure and own th e reac tor porti on . The s el e c te d
s ite i s near the town of Saugu s about 25 mi l e s northwe st of Lo s
Angel e s .
- l o8
bec ome increa singly fa vorable a s new unit s are added to ma tch
the wa ter demand bui l dup through the yea rs . Stanford Re se arch
Inst itute predic t ed th at c api tal c o s t s of la rge nuc l ear power
plant s wi l l de c l ine to a l e ve l of about 20 perc ent above tha t
of c onventional power plant s by 1 970 , a nd wi l l rea ch e qual itywith c onventiona l plant s by 20 20 .
The Atomi c Energy Commi s s ion predi c tions of c apitalc o s t trends , a s s hown in Tabl e 1 6 , a r e more c ons ervative , a t
l ea st for th e latter part of thi s de c ade , th a n tho se of the
Stanford Re search Inst i tute . Ca pital c o s t s wi l l be reduc ed a smore experienc e i s gaine d in manufac turing the ma ny items of
spe c ial equipment re quire d for a nuc l ear power plant . Al s o ,experienc e with operating pl ant s may reveal th a t c hea per ma teria l s ,
l e s s rigid fabri c ation te chnique s , fewer spe c ial c omponent s , l e s s
e laborate ins trumenta ti on , simple r refue l ing equipment , and l e s s
extensive provi s ions for safe ty wi l l be ac c epta b l e . Th e se fa c tors
shoul d tend to materia l ly re duc e c api tal c o s t s in future plant s .
Fue l Co s t s
Sinc e c apital c o s t s wi l l remain high for the fore s eeabl e
future , c o s t s o f nuc l e ar fue l mu s t be proportiona t ely l ower tha n
that for fo s s i l fue l s in order for nuc l ear power to be c ompetitivewi th c onventional power .
The Stanford Re s earch Inst i tute fee l s tha t nuc l ear fue l
c o st s wil l de c l ine to about four mi l l s per kil owat t - h our in 1 970 ,
to two mil l s by 1 995, and to mi l l by 20 20 .
- 1 1 0
Some o f the means by which reduct ions in fuel co s t s
wil l be gained are as fol lows
1 . In creas e in the amount o f heat energy extract ed
from a unit we ight o f fuel , through longer
expo sure in the core and better heat transfer .
2 . Increa s e in demand for fuel el ement s,l eading
to e conomie s in fabri cat ion and pro ce s s ing
te chnique s .
3 . Reductions in s to rage and chemical repro ce s s ing
charge s .
No t e chni cal breakthroughs l eading to drama t i c rat e s
o f improvement in the s e a spe ct s are expe ct ed to o c cur ; rather,
i t i s l ikely that small gains in ea ch wil l be effe ct ed from
year to year , produ cing a gradual downward co s t t rend .
Be caus e o f the comparat ively high capital co st s of
nu cl ear powe r pl ant s , and the po tent i al ly low fuel co s t s , it
i s safe to as sume that nu cl ear pl ant s wil l usual l y fo rm the
bas e load o f any power sys t em . Thi s charact eri s t i c has
unusual s ignifi canc e when appl ied to the pumping requirement s
o f the Stat e Water Fac il it ie s . In the event that pumping
energy re quirement s were maintained at a cons tant rate , a
nucl ear power pl ant within the sys t em could be operated at
a high capa c ity facto r , a definit e e conomic advantage .
In addit ion to appl i cat ion o f nucl ear energy to the
generat ion o f el e ctri c al power , it may al so be us ed in the
form o f heat for appl i cat ion to the convers ion o f sal t water
1 1 1
to fre sh . All l arge capa c ity s ea water convers ion pl ant s in
u s e today are o f the dis t il l at ion type and thus u s e heat ,
usuall y in the form o f low - pre s sure s t eam , a s an energy sourc e .
Certain e conomie s , such as in fuel fabri cat ion , can be real i zedin reacto rs that produc e low t emperature s t eam . Nucl ear
energy , therefore , has encourag ing potential advantage when
u s ed in di s til l at ion pro ce s s e s. Studie s hav e shown that heat
from l arge s i z e rea cto rs in the future may b e cheaper than
that from fo s s il fuel s , b ut even when combined with the mo s t
effic ient di s t il l at ion pl ant now avail abl e , the co s t o f the
product water i s not compet it ive with no rma l natural fre sh
water sourc e s .
I so tope Appl i cat ionsIn addit ion to nucl ear power , the Department o f
Water Re source s ha s a dire ct int ere s t in ut il i zation o f s everalother aspe ct s o f nucl ear phenomena . The s e may have an immediat eor po tent ial appl i cat ion to wat er devel opment probl ems .
Radio i s otope s , for instance , are being us ed in a number o f ways .
Re cent development s in the quant itat ive det e rmi nation o f c ertains tabl e i s otope s may have great pot ent ial benefit in hydro logy .
The us e o f nuc l ear explo s ive s fo r improvement o f ground wat e r
re sourc e s al so has b een s tudied , but dire ct b ene fit from thi s
a ct iv ity s eems qu it e remot e at the pre s ent t ime . S tudie s by
the department conne ct ed with the s e pro ce s s e s are de s cribed
b elow .
—1 1 2
o f it s o ther chemi c al o r phys i cal prope rt ie s . In so il s water
i s the princ ipal contributor o f hydrogen atoms .
A de te cto r whi ch i s s ens it ive only to s low neutrons
i s pl aced c l o s e to the fa s t neutron source , and enc l o s ed in a
dev ic e cal l ed a neutron probe . When thi s probe i s pl ac ed in
the s o il , pul s e s due to s low neutrons wil l regi s t er on suitab l e
counting equipment . The count rat e ma y then be rel at ed to the
so il mo is ture in the v i c inity o f the apparatus by means o f a
prio r cal ibrat ion o f the ins t rument .
By appl i cat ion o f somewhat s imi l ar princ ipl e s
through the u s e o f a source o f gamma radiat ion and a gammadete ctor in a dens ity probe , the el e ctron dens ity o f the atoms
compo s ing the surrounding so il may be det ermined . Count rat e sre sul t ing from thi s mea surement may then be rel ated to the
bulk dens ity o f the medium in whi ch the devi c e i s pl a c ed .
The Department o f Wat er Re sourc e s i s now us ing
po rtabl e ins tr ument s whi ch conta in radioact i ve source s tose cure fiel d data and to provide val uabl e info rmat ion fo r us e
in water re source development act ivit i e s .
o f the consumptive us e o f wat er i s e s s ent ial in wat er devel op
ment pl anning . One o f the methods whereby wat er us e by
vegetat ion ( evapotranspirat ion ) may be evaluat ed i s by
ac curate field measurement o f the depl et ion o f mo i s ture from
the so il .
In det ermining wat er us e by a s el e ct ed crop , a
neutron probe i s lowered into the so il through a ca s ed bo re
- 1 14
hol e in the field in which the crop i s being rais ed to depths
up to 25 feet . Moi sture reading s are made at s el e c ted depths
in the so il , no rmally at l o f oot interval s . The s e measurement s
are made pe riodi cal ly during the growing s eason . By thi s
p ro c edure , it i s po s s ibl e to determine wat er content change s
in the root zone of the so il , and with knowl edge of the
quant ity o f water appl ied , wate r depl et ion for the crop i s
de termined . The s e measurement s are be ing made at s everal key
s tat ions throughout the S tat e . Areas in which neutron probe s
are b e ing us ed by the department fo r evap otranspirat ion
s tudie s in clude Ke rn County near Bakers fi eld,We stern San
Lui s Obi spo , and Santa Barbara Count ie s , the Sacramento - San
Joaquin Del ta area , the foothil l area s o f Pla c er and Nevada
Count ie s , and Shasta County . Figure 1 8 depi ct s the equipment
in operat ion at one o f the s e fiel d s it e s .
Land Sub s idence . So il mo i sture and so i l dens i ty
probes are be ing us ed at t e s t s ite s l o cat ed in sub s idence areas
on the we s t s ide o f the San Jo aquin Vall ey . The intere st o f
the Department of Water Re source s in the s e areas ari s e s from the
the fact that the propo s ed route o f the Cal ifo rnia Aqueduct
travers e s the areas . Data obtained from thi s inve s t igat ion
yi eld the rate and amount o f penetrat ion o f wat er through
the so il from the surfac e to a depth o f 20 0 fe et . By thi s
method,valuabl e info rmat ion on sub surfac e condit ions , whi ch
should material ly as s i s t in the de s ign and cons truct ion o f
the a q ueduc t i s being col l e cted .
_ 1 1 5_
Re source s i s currently cooperat ing with the Unit ed S tat e s
Department of Agri cul ture , Agri cul tural Re s earch S ervi ce , in
s tudie s o f the movement o f ground wat er . Fo r this purpo s e ,
neutron probe s are be ing ut il i zed fo r so il mo i s ture mea surement s .
Field studie s are be ing condu cted i n the San Joaquin Val l ey ,
i n conn e ct ion with a program to inve s t igat e ground wa t er
re cha rge .
Compa c t i on Con tro l . Rap id , nonde s t ru ct i ve s o il t e s t
i ng methods , Wh i ch are p rovide d by the u s e of devi c e s containing
ra dioa ct iv e s our ce s , a r e part i cul arly us eful in many areas o f
e arth wo rk cons t ru ct ion . I ns t rumen t s have b een de vel oped whi ch
a r e de s igned to ope rat e on th e so i l surfa c e , and to indi c at e
i ts mo is ture a nd dens ity to a depth o f ab out 1 foo t . The
De partment of Wa t er Re s ource s has made e val uat ion s tudie s with
the s e de vi ce s on s everal emb ankment pro j e ct s in conne ct ion
with it s cons truc t ion ac t ivit ie s . C l o s e l iai son i s b e ing
maintained with the Stat e Divis ion of Highways , whi ch has
s everal o f the s e ins trument s in us e .
Snow Mea surement s . Ra pid and ac curat e det erminat ion
o f t h e water content and dens ity o f snowpacks i s impo rtant in
predi ct ion o f to tal wat er in storage in wat ershed areas .
S tudie s o f the po s s ibl e appl i cat ion o f radioac t ive probe s to
thi s purpo s e are be ing made by the Unit ed Stat e s Fo re s t
S ervi ce , in cooperat ion with the Department o f Wate r Re source s .
Thi s wo rk i s b e ing conduct ed at the Central S ierra Snow
Laborato ry , near Soda Springs .
- 1 1 6
There is a real need in hydrologi c s tudie s for
tracers which wil l permit the ident ifi cat ion o f flow paths
and cal cul at i ons o f fl ow velo cit ie s in various type s o f
water bodie s . Radioact ive tracers , whi ch may be dete ct ed
ac curat ely and pre c i s ely even in very low concentrat ions
appear to fil l thi s need ideal ly .
At pre s ent the Department o f Water Re source s i s
part i c ipat ing in su ch s tudie s to the ext ent of maintaining
c lo s e l iai son with members o f other agenc ie s , who are con
duct ing a few studie s o f this nature , as de s cribed below .
us ed in a pro j e ct to determine the magnitude and extent o f
s eepage o f wat er from canal s . Personnel o f the Unit ed State s
Bureau of Re cl amat ion and the Univers ity o f Cal ifornia ,
Department o f Engineering , have conduct ed s eepage s tudie s on
a te s t s e c t ion o f the Madera Canal .
Flow Studie s . Stream flow and s il t trans fer
studie s ut il i z ing radioa ct ive tracers are be ing conduct ed by
the Univers ity o f Cal i fornia , Department of Engineering . Thi s
work promi s e s to provide info rmation whi ch shoul d find many
dire ct appl i cat ions in departmental hydro logi c a ct ivit ie s .
Re cent s tudie s have indicat ed that cons iderabl e
informa t ion regarding the source and his to ry o f surface and
ground wate rs ma y be obtained by anal ys e s fo r the s tabl e
_ 1 1 7 _
i s otope s o f hydrogen and oxygen no rmal l y pre s ent in such
wate rs . The s e i so tope s in clude hydrogen— l and hydrogen— 2
( deut erium ) , and oxygen- 1 6 , oxygen - 1 7 , and oxyg en- 1 8 . Be cau s e
o f differenc e s in vol at il ity cau s ed by the no rmal d i s t r i b u
t ion of the s e i so tope s in water , there i s a t endency to enri ch
waters which are sub j e c t to free evaporation , in the he avier
of th e s e i s o topi c sp e c i e s . S imil ar phenomena gove rn th e con
densation o f wate r vapo r which fall s a s pre cip i tat ion . Thus ,
by a carefu l s tudy of i sotop ic ra ti o s in wa ters , much . i n f o r >
ma t ion o f con s i de r a b l e . impo r tance* to ' h yd r o l ogy may b e obt a i ned .
The dep artment i s a ct ive l y purs ui ng an inve st iga tion to det er
mine tne fea s ib i l i ty o f‘
f b r th e r’
s tud i e s in thi s a r e a . towa r d
th e s olut ion of s ome . ma j o r'
h yd r e l ogi c pr obl ems .
va l ue . to th e S tate of Ga l iforni a i s th e po s sib le benefi cial
r e s u l t sw from a wat e r supp l y'
s tandpe i nt , to b e a chieved from
conne i vab i y‘
a f f ect a gr oundt wate r’
a qui fier’
SO‘
a s to fa c i l i tatere cha rge
,increas e s to rage cap a ci ty , incre a se rock p erme ab il ity ;
or break th rough a ba rr i er in o r de r to int e rconne ct ad j a c ent
aqu ifers . An under ground explos i on might al so produce a gre at
amount of re coverabl e hea t at moderate co s t . The heat coul d
po s s ibly b e rel ea s ed a t'
a cont r ol l ed . r a te by us e o f a tran sf er
agent , su ch a s wate r o r ga s , an d us ed fo r the product i on of
power o r in the form o f he at f er the convers i on o f s a l t water"
to fre sh .
invol ved in a pro j e ct o f thi s nature , but the further unfavo r
abl e fa ct exi s t s that a period o f many years mus t el aps e aft er
the firing before the ro ck cool s to a po int where the heat can
b e extra cted .
The pra ct i cab il ity of underground nucl ear expl o s ions
to al t er ground water condit ions , or to furni sh heat fo r
s al t wate r convers ion or power , appears quit e remot e at the
pres ent t ime and shoul d only be cons idered to be a theo ret i c al
po s sib il i ty unt il ext ens iv e further experimentat ion has b een
performed .
Summary
The util i zat ion o f nucl ear energy in development o f
Cal i fornia ' s wat er re source s may t ake two fo rms - as l ow
tempe rature s t eam fo r a sal ine water convers ion pro ce s s , and
as a s team produc er for power generat ion . Whil e pre s ent co s t so f nuc l ear energy are high there i s growing as surance that
thi s energy source ( converted to e ither heat or el e c tri c ity )
wil l ul t imat ely co s t l e s s than energy from conventional
source s . Thi s means an increa s ing share o f future powe r
demands wil l b e shifted to atomi c pl ant s , a t rend fo s t ered
al so by dwindl ing fo s s i l fuel re s erve s . It i s not l ikely that
a nu cl ear - powered convers ion pl ant wil l b e bui l t in the S tat e
fo r many years . Howeve r , s tudie s have shown that nucl ear
energy wil l be e conomical l y preferabl e and convent ional in
supplying the ma jor pumping power requirement s fo r the S tat e
'
Wat er Fac il it ie s i f th e power generat ing pl ant s are buil t by
the Stat e . Studie s o f al ternat ive power source s are b eing
- 1 20
made , however , and a de c i s ion as to the source o f power has
no t be en made at thi s t ime .
With re spe ct to radio i sotope s , tangibl e benefit s
have ac crued from the ir us e a s a tool in fac i l itat ing the
measurement o f l and and water u se e ffi c ienc ie s . It i s ant i
ci p a t ed that further us e s wil l be devi s ed as experimentat ion
i s cont inued and te chnique s improved .
unconventional ene rgy source s , e sp e c ial ly in the arid ands emi - arid regions o f the wo rl d . As a part o f it s regul ar
s c ient ifi c act ivit i e s it ha s undertaken a broad review o f
current re s earch in various countrie s . In 1 954, UNES CO
organi z ed an int ernat ional s ympo s i uml / held in India , on
wind and sol ar energy . In 1 955 , UNESCO gave financ ial support
to a Worl d Sympo s ium on Appl i ed Sol ar Ene r gyg/, hel d at
Pho enix , Ari zona . More re cent ly, UNESCO a s s i st ed the Depart
ment of Economi c and So c ial A ffairs o f the Unit ed Nat ions in
a comprehens ive s tudyi/ of many type s o f nonconventional
energy source s .
At the pre s ent time , UNESCO and the World Met eoro
logi cal Organi zation are undertaking the firs t wo rldwide survey
of so l ar radiat ion di s t ribut ion , mapping the dail y and annual
variat ions , dependence on al t itude , and rel ated factors . The
s tudy i s b e ing conduct ed in cooperat ion with a spe c ial i zed
sol ar ob s ervato ry and make s u s e o f ob s erved data gathered
during the re cent Int ernat ional Geophys i cal Year . At the
pre s ent t ime there exi s t s no s impl e and inexpens iv e instrument
for measuring so l ar radiat ion , u s eful in the det erminat ion o f
s ite s mo s t suitabl e fo r so lar energy development . UNES CO i
providing financ ial a s s i s tanc e to developing such an ins trument
as wel l a s fo r t e st ing other so l ar energy apparatus .
UNES CO ,
"Wind and So l ar Energy ; Pro ceedings o f the New
Delhi Sympo s ium"
, Paris , 1 956 .
St anford Re s earch In s t itut e ,
" Pro ceedings o f the Wo rldSympo s ium on Appl ied So l ar Energy , Pho enix , Ari zona ,
November 1 - 5 , Menlo Park , Cal ifornia , 1 956 .
Unit ed Nat ions ,
"
New Source s o f Energy and EconomicDevel opment
"
, E/2997 Department of Economi c and So c ialA ffairs , New York , 1 957 .
- 1 24
A comprehens ive s ympo s i uml / on al l pha s e s o f the
ut il i zat ion of sol ar energy was he l d at Madi son,Wi s cons in
,
in 1 953 . I t was sponso red by the Unit ed S tate s National
S c ienc e Foundat ion and the Univers ity o f Cal ifornia.
The
purpo s e o f the meet ing was to di s cu s s the po s s ib il it ie s o f
so l ar energy ut il i zat ion and to determine the areas where
re s earch should be encouraged .
In 1 958 , the French National Center o f S c ient ifi c
Re s earch conduct ed , at Montl oui s , a sympo s ium oh the appl i ca
tions o f so l ar energy in the modern world . Sub j e ct s di s cus s ed
ranged from small cooking devi c e s , wat er and hous e heaters,to
s o l ar power devi c e s in space vehi cl e s .
So l ar radiation has l ong been us ed to increas e the
rat e o f pl ant growth , to l engthen the growing s ea son by the
u s e o f gre enhous e s , and to evapo rate s al ine water in the sal t
indust ry . Mode rn sol ar energy appl i cat ions are st il l largely
in the re s earch s tage , varying from ob s ervations of sol ar
radiation to advanced experimentat ion on a worldwide bas i s in
su ch countrie s as A lgeria , Aus tral ia , the Congo , Burma , Egypt ,
Franc e , French We s t Afri ca , India , I srael , Italy, Japan , the
Union of South Afri ca , Rus s ia , th e United Kingdom, and the
Unit ed S tat e s .
_l / Daniel s, F . ,
and Duffie , J . A . ,
"So lar Energy Re s earch
The Univers ity of Wi s cons in Pre s s , Madison , 1 955 .
_ 1 25
The quant ity o f energy radiat ing from the sun is
very nearly cons tant . Out s ide the atmo sphere o f the earth ,
and on a surfa ce perpendi cu l ar to the rays o f the sun , thi s
radiant energy i s about Btu per square fo o t per minut e .
Due to l o s s e s su s tained in pas s ing through the upper atmo sphere ,
and through cl ouds in the lewer atmo sphere , radiant energy o f
the sun is greatly depl et ed and extremely variabl e i n i nten
s i ty when it rea che s the earth ' s surfa ce . At Fre sno ,
Cal ifornia , fo r exampl e , the maximum radiat ion rate o c curs in
July , at a l it tl e pas t mid - day , and e qual s about 5 Btu per
s quare foo t per minut e . The minimum radiat ion o c curs in
De cemb er and fo r a compara bl e t ime o f day e qual s about 2 Btu
per s quare foo t per minut e . Cl oudin e s s would , of cours e ,
reduce the energy re ce ived to a l e s s er value .
The average daily energy on a ho ri zontal surfac e in
a sunny cl imat e , su ch a s the southwe st ern United Stat e s , i s
from 1 80 0 to 20 0 0 Btu p e r s quare foo t per day . Typi cal ob s e r
va t i on s in areas where sol ar int ens ity i s rel at ively high are
g iven in Tabl e 1 7 .
Ba s i c t e chnique s ut il i z ed to convert the radiat ion
of the sun into us abl e energy are cl a s s ified into two groups .
1 . Pro ce s s e s ut il i zing so l ar heat .
2 . Pro c e s s e s ut il i zing l ight from the s un .
In addit ion , there are be ing devel oped means fo r the dire ct
conversion of heat into el e ctri c ity , whether th e-
heat b e
derived from the sun o r from other thermal source s .f Th e s e
proc e s s e s wil l b e de s crib ed l at er in thi s chapt er . The s o
call ed so l ar batt ery i s al so b riefly di s cus s ed in thi s s e c t ion .
1 26
Lens e s or refl e ct ing mirro rs are needed to create
t emperature s higher than a few hundred degre e s . A s the s e l ens e s
o r mirro rs capture on l y . th e dire ct rays o f the sun , they must
b e cont inual ly rotat ed so as t o keep the sun ' s rays in fo cu s .
The heat captured and the t emperature created are dependent on
the qual ity o f the mirro r surfa ce and the ac curat e shaping o f
the parabol i c col l e cto rs . A s a cons equenc e , different iat ion
i s frequently made between medium temperature devi c e s and
h igh temperature furna c e s . The heat in the fo rmer , bel ow about
F . , may be us ed dire ctly in low - t emperature furna ce s
and in sol ar cookers , or may b e trans fe rred through l i quid o r
gas eous media to operat e engine s o f various type s . High
t emperature furnac e s to F . ) are chiefly us ed in
industrial and re s earch appl i cat ions to t reat refractory and
metal l i c mat erial s , to indu ce chemi c al rea ct ion s , and to creat e
s t eam o f high temperature and pre s sure .
For certain remot e area s o f Cal ifo rnia , the us e o f
sol ar energy fo r dire ct di s t il l at ion of sal ine water o r for
product ion of power fo r pump ing and dome st i c el e ctri cal us e
may prove fea s ibl e . For su ch regions , Dr . Vannevar Bu sh has
re c ently propo s ed the us e o f s low—moving sol ar heat engine s
”
employing air heated b y lth e sun in fl at pl ate col l e c to rs a s
an energy source
Hi stori cally , Cal ifornia has been the l o cal e fo r
s everal so l ar s t eam engine s buil t and Operated early in the
pre s ent c entury . One was buil t in 1 90 1 in Pa sadena , and
during the same year another , develop ing 1 1 hors epower , was
- 1 28
cons tru ct ed and operated at the Os tri ch Farm in South Pasadena.
In 1 90 5 and 1 90 8 , two so l ar - me cha nic al devi c e s ( 1 5 and 20
ho rs epower , re spect ively ) were cons tru ct ed and operat ed at
Needl e s , Cal i fornia
So l ar radiat ion in the form of l ight may be converted
to u s eful fo rms of energy by employing various photo chemi cal
and photo el e ctri c pro ce s se s .
The bas i c concept in photo chemi cal pro ce s s e s i s th at
a number of chemical react ions may be a ct ivat ed by sunl ight in
which the reac tant s thems elve s , o r a pho to catalyst mixed with
the photo chemical , ab sorb sol ar energy . Of the s everal photo
chemi cal pro c e s s e s , photo synthe s i s i s the mo s t us eful . Re
s earch wo rk oh thi s pro ce s s i s conc erned not so much with the
effi c iency o f chemi cal convers ion as it i s with obtaining means
o f ut il i zing and s toring the great e s t po s s ibl e quant ity o f
s o l ar energy by means o f pl ant l ife . Thi s invol ve s the proper
s el e ct ion o f pl ant s and the creation o f Optimum condit ions fo r
the ir growth . Int ere s t is e spe c ial ly being centered on s ingl e
cel l ed algae that c an grow and mul t iply in water .
Photo el e ctri c convers ions are of much int ere s t i n
dire ct ut il i zat ion of so l ar energy . One devi ce i s the photo
vo l tai c c el l ut il i zed in pho tographi c expo sure mete rs . An
el e ctri c current i s produced when sol ar rays strike a l ight
s ens it ive mat erial,such as s el enium . Modern cel l s , developed
as a re sul t o f re s earch in s emi— conductors , empl oy s il i con and
are cal l ed sol ar batt erie s . Minut e amount s'
o f ars eni c ,
_ 1 29_
me i t e d ;Wi t h l s i l i con of high purity , produ c e nega t ive - type
s i l i cb n .h r Th e mat erial i s p rodu ced in the fo rm o f thin wafers
wh i ch ' a r ew s ub s e quentl y cove red with bo ron to produ c e a thin
top l ayer o f po s it ive - typ e s il i con . A s a re sul t o f th e
juxtapo s it ion of negative - typ e and po s it ive - typ e s i l i con , an
el e ctri c vol tage i s generated when l ight s trike s the junct ion
o f the l ayers . At th e pre s ent t ime , the effi c iency of the
so l ar batt ery is l ow . It i s anti c ipat ed , however , that con
t i nu i ng re s earch wil l eventual ly produce a devi c e o f rel at ively
high effi c iency for the dire ct convers ion of sol ar rays into
el e ct ri c ity .
Probably prehi s to ri c man knew and us ed hot wat er and
s t eam p r o duc ed in th e int erio r of the earth . Howeve r , the .~
actual produ ct ion o f me chani c al and el e ct ri c al power from
s t eam or h ot .wa te r o rig inat ing in subterranean sourc e s o f
h e a tg d a te s :b a ck only to 1 904, al though i nve s t igat ions o f su ch
sour ce s o f energy cover a .p e r i od o f almo s t a c entury
Regions o f the earth where readily ob s ervabl e sourc e s
o f geothermal energy are avail abl e are extremely l imit ed .
Princ ipal sourc e s are l o cat ed in I taly , I ce land , New Zealand ,
Al aska , and in the We s t ern United S t at e s . In Cal ifo rnia ,
s uch ss our ce s are l o cat ed in Sonoma County , Las s en Nat ional Park ,
andn i n _ th e . l mp e r i a 1 Vall ey
f w l '
,Pr act i ca l .ut i l i za ti on o f geothermal energy for th e
generation o f el e c tri c ity i s wel l e s tabl i shed in Ital y, where
powe r fa c il i t ie s h a d attained a to tal capac ity o f
Th eo r e t i ca l l y ,r geoth e r ma l energy i s o f almo s t
unl imit ed ext ent o rig inat ing in the heat o f the interior O f
the earth it s el f . Over mo s t o f the earth ' s crus t , the
Ob s erv ed increas e o f temperature with depth i s remarkably
unifo rm, averag ing about 10 F . with every 60 feet o f depth
( increas e o f t emperature with depth i s cal l ed t emperature
gradient ) . Vi s ibl e manife s tat ion s o f int ernal heat o c cur as
vol cani c a ct ion at high t emperature s and as springs o f hot
wat er o r o f st eam . The heat in some mine s , where ma s se s o f
ro ck have b een cool ing fo r thousands o f years , caus e s t em
p e r a tur e s above tho s e in whi ch miners c an wo rk for more than
very sho rt periods . In O i l explo rat ions at depths of nearlyfeet , tempe rature s exc eeding the maximum for which wel l
l ogging machinery i s -in sul at ed have been encount e red .
In al l o f the pre s ent us e s o f geothermal energy,
s t eam or hot water al ready pre s ent in the earth i s put to us e ,
and if it were ne ce s sary to confine the ut il i zat ion o f geo
thermal energy to area s where such subte rranean water o r
st eam al ready exi s t s , the us e o f that re sourc e woul d b e quit e
l imit ed . However , it has b een sugge s t ed that s inc e the tem
p e r a tur e o f the earth i s known to increas e a s great er depths
are reached , it might be po s s ibl e to cons tru ct boring s o r
shaft s into whi ch water o r some other l iquid heat trans fer
medium coul d be introdu ced , and , r etur n ed to the surface at
high t emperature for us e a s a heat sour ce fo r any purpo s e .
That it woul d be phys i cal ly po s s ibl e to make u s e o f this
energy there i s no doubt , nor i s there doubt that the us e
- 1 32
: t e uBa tte b Le s tudla us h owe d cth a t i a s [a ds our ce s of mi b ru o o
ene r gy cofirwi d e s pr e a d fgeogr aph i c d i s t r i b uti on; dgeoth e rma l oene r gy s~
wa s f not sgén e r a l kyép r a ct i ca l jfio r os a l ine gwa te r wconver s i on 9 3 h a ve n "
co iTh e csouth Dakota i s oh od l vo f Mi n es eRe sea nch a nd ton i s q e HT
s p e ci f i cz i nve s t i gat i ongéj o f nce r ta i n a s pect s eo f fgeoth e rma l co :
ene rgy d t i n cl ud i ngs a nueva l u ati on r ofis neg i on s of cons ide rab l e vj fv . j
geoth e rma l fl en e r gy i n l Ca I i flo r n i a swi dent i f ted aas cth gs éfia r ea S fioo mo"
abounding in ho t spring s , geyse rs , st eam wel l s , and umud ovo l d ngi d
cano e s zi rTh e i nmé s t i ga tfion ( wa S ep a r ti cuh a r l y conce r n ed nfii th
the prob l ems go f s th e dava i l a b i l s tyfio f age oth e rma l aene r gy fire b a ted [ El i
to th e séa r th b s ztemp e r atur e agr ad i ent , sand th e ava i l a b i b i ty .d§ tfl a i
geoth erma l s energymf romzh ot l s p r i ngs aa nd ns te amdwe l fls a s oTh ews oq q s d”
f o l l owingq e x t r act J f rom th e Of f i ce q ofii sa l i ne Wa te r ; uent i t l ed d3 s o?
S a l iné ( Wate r Conve r s i oa epor t : f d n i l 9BZu b briefly coVe ns th e l s ffi
f i nd i ngs Gdf i th émi nves t i ga t i ons 3 0 9 I e ~ «doub omo - vd a l d s j oAq sm r d s d j
"The pre s entl y ava i l ab l e dge q th ermab b d a ta adoanot os b a oub
indi cate that Ca l i fo rni a p o s se s s e s any area s o f un
us ua f by i h i gh Jtemperdtufie igra d i eh t s Idut S i d e .tfié£l ocat ions o f hot springs , st eam wel l s , geys ers , and the
GS Ti kc i h MTh e Ta r ge s t r épo r ted sgr a d i ént i s on l y l twi de d 0 1 vh uj
the mean value fo r the earth ' s c ru s t . Therefo re , noeconomi damfiuti I i za ti on dof Lth é i a va i b ab l e Jge dth e rma l v
e vq ua 0 3
ene rgy from the thermal gradient fo r a demineral i zing
p r o ce s s 9 i s p r act i ca b I e Ja t ath i s dt i me . a i anfiqms s uo ifims o ddi w
~ m0 0fi“fIQtUSp r i ng s ,fJ i n e f f e ct rea f f or d ra l fif r e e nh ol efli [ r mod fma b
for the extract ion o f geothermal energy . Report edda tafiomay i emd s and s t emp e r a tu r e s i nd i cate s th a tvgen e r a l l ya a a s q
mad ame I s mq afif c e Lo v3i l i ua x i i s vs I s i dna d oq ad j : i av i s ns
I n s t i tute , a t Ava i l a b ml i ty ao f oGeoth e rma l n b h a s
Energy for th e Demin era l i zat i on o f Sal ine Wat er '
Offi c e
o f Sal ine Water , Re s earch and Deve lopment Pr ogr e s s . Repor t New
No . 27 , July 1 959 .
_g/ South Dako ta S choo l o f Mine s Re s earch and DevelopmentA s so c iat ion ,
"Inve s t igat ion o f the Avail ab il ity o f Geo
thermal Energy fo r the Demineral i zat ion o f Sal ine Wat er"
Offi ce o f Sal ine Water , Re s e a r ch f a nd Development Progre s sReport No . 28 , July 1 959 .
_ 1 34_
th e i h a tural f l ows 7
a reUtOO”
sma l l “or f th e?temper ature an : >r
l evel s too low to ut il i ze them in sal ine wat er pl ant sthat wou l d Tb e C p r a cti cab l e 0 r
" ”
cOnomi ea l i - ~ Th e éO St C ' C'U
of fre sh water would.
s t il l be prohib it ively high byI p r é s ent
c S tand a r d s'
y} ; Z‘ 9 1 1 P F. L j fi‘J I e
” 0 WEITs ’ o f f érj th e 7 h éarES t approa éh efio i év ifii~ a f ~
‘
geothermal source re sul t ing in a pra ct i cabl e deminr I e r a l i 'Za t i ém o f Sa l i ne v wa te r l s Th e? hi gher temperaturesre sul t ing with thi s natural s t eam whi ch apparentlyhas b e en
’o ota i n edoup to 275 psi ob r l s o ; o i ncr e a s e s the w
“m
31 5 .1
-1 1 3 5 5: fl a 9 1 : b e s i r T
”One l imitat ion of such source s i s that they
a r e unique a nd o ccur“ofil y '
i nUCér tai n I 6 cal i t i e s , whi ch 3'
i s al so true o f hot springs . Thus , one has to coni d
'
eer their‘
f e a s i b i l i tye 1 a r e l a t i on l to
“th e l s our ce o f i 1 ~
sal ine wate r and area of demand for fre sh wat er .
0
"Limited nd rather old informat ion on steam
wel l s q at"Th e e y o e r s ” I i n
Q
S onoma J Coun ty kwa s
a bas i s fo r e s t imat ing that fre sh water might be produced fo r $ 1 . 0 0 or po s s ibly l e s s i f
in thi s lo cal i ty .
Wind Power
Q 3L Th eQe a r l i e s t date when man empl oyed the force of the
windi tofl as éi st Him1mh 1 s 5 ta sk s i s Unot knowfi.OEBoth th e :
mil l ing grain,and it is re corded that , in the S eventeenth
I s Jo u e fl J‘
I ?a 1 e q ans 5 f 1 .
r n j'i r i ‘
5 a t“~ s 1
Century B . C . ,the Babylonian empero r Hammurab i planned an
I
ambitiou s irrigat ion sys tem us ing windmil l s for pumping .
da 1 en a
a 1 o {J i f'u f aa oa a ¢ n
_ i 1 5 : n " c x n i i fl fl
In We s t ern Europe and in Ru s sia , windmill s were in
c ommon us e after the middl e age s , e spe c ial l y in tho s e regionsne v r t b - b n i
'
3 3 5 o f : I 5 1
[
e x P a os rze
where fo s s il fuel and water power resource s were negl igibl e ,
i s n d onH a s r b fir q a i s D9 35 1 >oo ha s b eafioa q n cs ’
co £ 1 e fio
su ch a s Denmark and Ho ll and .
In pre s ent - day Rus s ia , where power i s required for
numerous agri cul tural communit ie s , a C entral Wind Power‘
s J : a a » 1 uc ? . 1 1 9 n3'
. . A 3 3 0 1 ~ s ob b ra k . ;
I n s t itute h 'wa s a e s tab l i s h edfii a l tHeWP920 - 30 decade ? 1 The wor k °
sf
- e x
)
1 35
the ins t itut e re sul ted in the cons t ru ct ion , in 1 931 , o f a
1 0 0 - kilowatt el e ctri cal generat ing windmil l near Bala cl ava
in the C rimea a s wel l as the cons tru ct ion of numerous smal l
wind - driven generato rs . Re c ent e s t imat e s give the number of
wind power pl ant s in Rus s ia , at about unit s , with an
aggregat e capa city of approxima tely hors epower .
In the Unit ed S tat e s , th e sma l l farm and ranch
windmil l was a common ne ce s s ity in almo s t al l part s o f the
country unt il the advent o f the s tat ionary internal comb u s
t ion engine and the rural el e ctrifi c at ion sys t ems . A c co rding
to Ayre s and S ca r l o tt l /, the type s ( in 1 950 ) were app r o x i
mately as fol l ows
Number in Average Instal l ed Annual power
Pumping hp hp 250 mil l ion ho rs epower - hours
Wind char ers 2 kw kw 1 50 mil l ion kilo
( el e ct . watt - hours
The total annual power produ c tion by wind i s about 450 mil l ion
ho rs epower - hours , a rather ins ignifi cant part o f the tot al
Unit ed Stat e s power produc t ion .
During World War II , the po s s ib il ity o f generat ing
el e ct ri cal power on a l arge s cal e from the ene rgy o f the wind
was studied extens ively , and a - kilowatt wind - driven
generato r was cons tru ct ed and op erat ed at Grandpa ' s Knob near
Rut l and , Vermont .
_1/ Ayre s , E . , and S ca r l ott , C . A Energy Source s ; theWealth o f the World
"
, McGr aw- Hil l Book Company ,
'
New York ,
1 952 .
- 1 36
i h —th e cwi nd i“A c tual ly ; howemen ; a l o s s e s a i n th e r otor p q i n the
g ea r imggcand i n cth e s e l e ctr i ca l sys tem reduce th e oovgr ab l j e f f i g i j
c i en cy to l es s i th anq l o p er centg w e ?" em to {Gav-
351 yd
vTh e awi nd er a r eLy blows flar eany ocons i de r a b l e : pe r i od
o f t ime . at 3a con s tanui s pe ed r e rHQwever , s i n s co a s tah or mounta i n onTa r e a s y nbo ca t i on s i can Sb e df ound cwh e r e i t rb l ows :mo r e i f r e quentl y c r f x
and con sta ntl yfith an i n l oth en ea r ea S no Ex tend ed emounta i n a none
r ange s oa f f e ct - th e- gene r a l j f l OM‘
o f i ai nuover th es e gbanni e r s cand
tend to i ncr e a s e hWi nd b spe ed s ca s at h e, a l ti tude ei ncnea s e s ,
Th er e for e ; ; th e Qb e s t i te sl f or wi nd ipowe r ar ewl i ke l y dtO CQe x ooe ta
.c vfirfit ep r e s ent: th er efla ppe a rs ato r b e anO ts i te gi n cCa l i f or n i a
wh e r e i wi nd : powe r n can rb e j e conomi ca l l y j deve l op ed l andmuti l i zed t o OI
Util izat ion o f Wa ste HeatThe amount of heat was ted by indu strial pro c e s s ing
in Cal ifornia , of possibl e u s e in sal ine wat er convers ion wasnot known , even approximately, unt il re cently . To a s c ertainth e
k
app r o x ima te q uantity of such was te heat , a survey wa s madeof it s lo cat ion , amount , and probabl e co s t .
The ob j e ct ive o f th i s prel iminary survey, condu ctedby "ai s er Engineers under contra ct to the Department of Wat erRe source s , wa s to a s c ertain the lo cat ion , avail abl e q uantit ie s ,and co s t o f wa st e heat energy from various coas tal source swithin the Stat e . Thes e source s includedprivate andmpub l i c ,ut i l i t i e sM andnmuni d i p a b aQS tate y and d a e ifi”
. 3 Q E I q YFTh efltypes I of~wa stéi h eatfii nves ti ga ted? en comp a s s ed
3 3 cm: 3Ga s e s ; Osuch fl a S Nth e upr oduct S ? of h combust i on and~ a e i q wid d i w s h igh ctemp er atur eJéf f l uentuga s e s aflr om chemi cal ,
a d o i d eme b i a ameta l mungi ca t ; ae l ect r i ci powe r ngen e r a t i on ,
a e oz wc a J s mun i ci pa l i r e f us e, and OSewageMd i s po s aTTop e r a t i on s .
o i l f j m I E 2 9 1 Ei qui d s jt
such a s the product s a f r omd r ef i ne r i e sy '
$ 1 5fiimi l e f fle 1 e ctr i c
l i q flfifif l fici afiand omuni di pa I Vr e f us edand i s éwage d i s po s a l sme J l o
4. Sol ids , s uch c a s t i n th efls tee b j f a l Umi num, 3cér ami o ,
and cement industrie s , and from muni c ipalrefu s e and s ewage di spo sal Operations .
The survey wa s l imited to the following areas , heat
q uant it ie s , and heat source s1 . The Pac ifi c Coastal area , including the lowerSa cramento River - San Franc i s co Bay region,ext ending from Napa on the no rth to the Mexi canborder on the south , and within 5 mil e s of thecoa st l ine .
2 . Tho s e blo cks of wa s te heat , in a given area ,capabl e of produc ing at l eas t 1 mi l l ion gal lonsper day of potabl e water empl oying the vacuumfl a sh evaporat ion pro ce s s or te ch ni gg e s cfm m .
l o d oi a cna a x a eéqu1Vamefifir h eat aecg nomy . .y 6£pprox imate l y
a rm 1 0 V'
g‘
rz n e
re q uired for a l mil l ion - gall on - per—day plant ,depending on the t emperature of the was te heat . )
3 . Heat source s at tempera ture s o f at l ea s t 75° F .4. Heat source s whi ch are ex trac tabl e within p r a ct i cal enginee ring and e conomi c cons iderat ions .
The survey dis clo s ed s everal wa s te heat sourc e swhi ch would be po s sibl e to u s e a s a heat supply for a 1 mi ll iongal lon - per- day sal ine water convers ion pl ant . Prel iminarye s t imat e s o f the co s t of us e o f the was t e heat indi cated ,however , that only the very be s t source s , from the standpo into f temperature , proximity to an availabl e convers ion pl ant s it eand to the supply of s ea wat er , would be comparabl e to the co s to f u s ing a convent ional heat source .
Marine EnergyEnergy e x i s t s in the o c eans in two different forms
heat and mot ion . The heat energy e x i st ing in the warm surfac ewater , su ch a s ex i s t s off the coa s t of Southern Cal ifornia , ma ybe put to pra ct i cal u s e if a heat s ink can be provided . Thi smay be done by tapping the cold ma s s of water lying b eneaththe surfac e at depths in the range of 500 to feet ordeeper . The energy of mot ion i s pre s ent in tide s and wave s ,but there appear to b e no pro spe ct s along the Cal i fornia coa s tl ine where e ither o f the se source s o f energy can be e conomical ly harne s s ed .
Therma l EnergyHi stori cal ly , the cons iderat ion of the extra ct ion of“
thermal energy from the almo s t l imitl e s s latent energy o f the
- 140
u s i ngfiafil ongl i n s ul ated i Steel Upipe S to obtainJédl d q s éa PWa térfl ( a P C
at a <depth l of fabout5 2§OOOWf éetf and warm a t er from9 the seab o WOT}
s ur f a ce efidTh éffiéth od cape satéa 580 f i ydduefificflai fr acui ti e sfii n?“swa b
l a y ingf avpi pe i e r a depth f suf f i ci entdtéfiob tai noefiou“h teapéra- vas q
ture d i f f er ence 3to l we r k IWi tt a i r Oef f i"
i 8ncy¥ 9 3HOWéver? thee
f e a s i b i l i tyOof x th é I p r oée s s wasbdéf ifii terystfeved .fi@ 9 fl
fia vw Annumb e rfio f fdeep l canyon s Sex i st3of rnoa r i forfli a? s” Ht
coa s t,which offer po tent ial source s of cold water . An ' 3 9 1 3H I
e x amp l emi s“Monte r eyf s ubmari n efiCafiyonJ in3M6ntér éy Bay?9Wh i ch
i s compa f a b r emifif ma x imumédestnoand cr agg l s eéfii ofifitb the af afidfis n e
the S a i ifia '
Ri ve r b a t amoS s sand i ngvemrne Eposs iui i i tyééXi éfis a o x ofld
i ndu str i al fh eatEGOUTd cb e u sedfito ma ter i ai iy Tficr éa SéUtemp eraj fifij a
ture d i f f erent i aI s QGSA t SUBdanyon 9of fiMdfitéfiey f danydfimi s Carmel j
Canyon , whi ch heads in th e amodth fld f fth e QGarmél QRi ver fm Con
s i d e r a b l e Dd epth sfiex i s tYdfld s e tGWSh dr e i O no i i ua , [ i j
'
A
th e d ea stT
and Outer US anfiéUBa r b ara ECh dnfieLHto Gth e3Wé s tW9 3And th e r l i b
i s th é SS d r i pp § ’ S ubmar i ne i Canfidnfil oca téd rel at i very ( cl os e uto i v t i fl u
deep s e a TWatenfltemp efiatur e d i f f er enti a l s vinQSOuth e rn Sca l ifio rd i a GO
coa s tal waters are shown in Tab l e 1 8 .
SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE SEA WATERSouthern Cal ifornia Coa stal Waters
in feet
Surfa cet
The a l i ca t i on of this energy source to d emi n e r a l i
za t i on of sal t wat er doe s not appear promi s ing due to the co s to f obtaining the co ld water and the great vo lume s of waterthat must b e handl ed be caus e of the rel at ively sma l l temperature difference availabl e . ( T GWWUB
The me chanical energy of t ide s may be harnes sedand trans formed into el e ctri city . I n princ ipl e , the convers ion
pro ce s s is analogous to convent ional hydro el e ctri c poweri d i a a oami e x o i o f
.
f e a . J: on ; no ; Unggi :J a l o c a r : a
instal lat ions ut il izing the energy of fall ing water . A storage
b as in i s fil l ed during high t ide and i s clo s ed by gat e s whenthe t ide re cede s , so that a difference in water l evel on ebbtide i s creat ed , or vi ce versa . The t r a pp ed . wa te r i s thenal lowed to flow from the high s ide to the low s ide througha hydraul i c turbine whi ch may be coupl ed to a generator toprodu c e el e ctri c power . Thi s mode o f power generat ion do e snot appear to b e fea s ibl e along the we st co a s t o f the Unit edS tat es , ex c ept perhap s at Cook ' s I nl et in A la ska . Tabl e 1 9pre s ent s typi cal t idal range s along the coas t o f Ca l i fornia ,all of whi ch are wel l b elow the l o- foo t minimum general lycons idered pract i cal and e conomi c for power generation .
Mi s ce l l an eous‘
Ene r gy Source sOther energy source s , l e s s well deve loped , may
eventual ly a s sume some importanc e in supplying energy req uirement s o f the future . The s e in clude the fuel cel l and variousdev i c e s for dire ct convers ion o f heat to el e c tri cal energy ,including heat from nucl ear fi s s ion . None of the s e i s suff i ci ent l y advan ced at the pre s ent t ime , however , to permitrel iabl e predi ct ions o f the ir pot ent ial impac t on the energyneeds o f Cal ifornia .
SummaryOf the s everal source s of energy termed non conven
t i ona l rel at ively few appear to o ffer any po s s ib il ity offuture appl i cation in thi s Stat e to wat er demineral izat ionpro c e s s ing and power produc t ion . Some are , a s yet , in theembryoni c s tage o f inve stigat ion and it i s there fore impo s s ib l e
a ooa uos s n i a sm moa l ggq enfi . a e au s i d i a a oq t i ed : ee a ewoi o i
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