DESALINATION - A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE FOR MAKEUP AND DOMESTIC WATER FOR NUCLEAR PLANTS. A CASE STUDY OF LONG TERM OPERATIONS AT DIABLO CANYON POWER PLANT

摘要

Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant, located in San Luis Obispo County, provides electricity for more than 2 million northern and central Californians from its two 1,100 megawatt units. Since beginning commercial operation in 1985, Diablo Canyon has been one of the safest and most efficient nuclear power plants in the nation. The plant consistently receives high safety ratings from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as well as being repeatedly rated as a "number 1 plant" in safety and performance from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. Over its lifetime, it has achieved an operability rating of over 80 percent, compared with the national average of 70 percent for the nuclear industry. Diablo Canyon is a valuable and dependable part of California's energy mix, and a benefit to the Central Coast for the long term. A critical consumable resource for successful operation of a nuclear plant is a reliable source of water. Over the past twenty-two (22) years, Diablo Canyon has utilized a combination of seawater, surface and well sources to provide makeup water for steam generation and domestic water for potable use. The plant has employed evaporative, membrane, and ion exchange technologies to provide it's pure water requirements. Located in a remote and pristine coastal area of the country that has a myriad of political, environmental, and hydrologic water challenges, seawater desalination provides the plant with an independent reliable source of water for sustained operation. Desalination has also lessened the plant's impact on the surrounding community and the natural water resources. This paper will briefly describe the history of water production design and technology at Diablo Canyon. This history of a very successful application of seawater desalination can provide valuable design considerations for utilities and design engineers planning for new nuclear facilities, or upgrades to existing facilities facing new water resource challenges.