Diablo Canyon nuclear plant could provide benefits for California, including desalinated water and clean hydrogen

The Diablo Canyon atomic works successful California, the lone 1 inactive operating successful the state, is acceptable to adjacent successful 2025. A squad of researchers astatine MIT's Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab, and Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research; Stanford's Precourt Energy Institute; and vigor investigation steadfast LucidCatalyst LLC person analyzed the imaginable benefits the works could supply if its cognition were extended to 2030 oregon 2045.

They recovered that this nuclear plant could simultaneously assistance to stabilize the state's electrical grid, supply desalinated h2o to supplement the state's chronic h2o shortages, and supply carbon-free hydrogen substance for transportation. MIT News asked study co-authors Jacopo Buongiorno, the TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and John Lienhard, the Jameel Professor of Water and Food, to sermon the group's findings.

Q: Your study suggests co-locating a large desalination works alongside the existing Diablo Canyon powerfulness plant. What would beryllium the imaginable benefits from operating a desalination works successful conjunction with the powerfulness plant?

Lienhard: The outgo of desalinated h2o produced astatine Diablo Canyon would beryllium little than for a stand-alone works due to the fact that the outgo of energy would beryllium importantly little and you could instrumentality vantage of the existing infrastructure for the intake of seawater and the outfall of brine. Electricity would beryllium cheaper due to the fact that there's not an electrical transmission charge—you're close astatine the plant, and the powerfulness doesn't person to beryllium sent crossed the grid.

Depending connected the standard astatine which the desalination plant is built, you could marque a precise important interaction connected the h2o shortfalls of authorities and national projects successful the area. In fact, 1 of the numbers that came retired of this survey was that an intermediate-sized desalination works determination would nutrient much caller h2o than the highest estimation of the nett output from the projected Delta Conveyance Project connected the Sacramento River. You could get that magnitude of h2o astatine Diablo Canyon for an concern outgo little than fractional arsenic large, and without the associated impacts that would travel with the Delta Conveyance Project.

And the exertion envisioned for desalination here, reverse osmosis, is disposable disconnected the shelf. You tin bargain this instrumentality today. In fact, it's already successful usage successful California and thousands of different places astir the world.

Q: You sermon successful the study 3 imaginable products from the Diablo Canyon plant: desalinatinated water, powerfulness for the grid, and cleanable hydrogen. How good tin the works accommodate each of those efforts, and are determination advantages to combining them arsenic opposed to doing immoderate 1 of them separately?

Buongiorno: California, similar galore different regions successful the world, is facing aggregate challenges arsenic it seeks to trim carbon emissions connected a expansive scale. First, the wide deployment of intermittent vigor sources specified arsenic star and upwind creates a large woody of variability connected the grid that tin beryllium balanced by dispatchable steadfast powerfulness generators similar Diablo. So, the archetypal ngo for Diablo is to proceed to supply reliable, cleanable energy to the grid.

The 2nd situation is the prolonged drought and h2o scarcity for the authorities successful general. And 1 mode to code that is h2o desalination co-located with the atomic works astatine the Diablo site, arsenic John explained.

The 3rd situation is related to decarbonization the proscription sector. A imaginable attack is replacing accepted cars and trucks with vehicles powered by substance cells which devour hydrogen. Hydrogen has to beryllium produced from a superior vigor source. Nuclear power, done a process called electrolysis, tin bash that rather efficiently and successful a mode that is carbon-free.

Our economic analysis took into relationship the expected gross from selling these aggregate products—electricity for the grid, hydrogen for the proscription sector, h2o for farmers oregon different section users—as good arsenic the costs associated with deploying the caller facilities needed to nutrient desalinated h2o and hydrogen. We recovered that, if Diablo's operating licence was extended until 2035, it would chopped c emissions by an mean of 7 cardinal metric tons a year—a much than 11 percent simplification from 2017 levels—and prevention ratepayers $2.6 cardinal successful powerfulness strategy costs.

Further delaying the status of Diablo to 2045 would spare 90,000 acres of onshore that would request to beryllium dedicated to renewable vigor accumulation to regenerate the facility's capacity, and it would prevention ratepayers up to $21 cardinal successful powerfulness strategy costs.

Finally, if Diablo was operated arsenic a polygeneration installation that provides electricity, desalinated water, and hydrogen simultaneously, its value, quantified successful presumption of dollars per portion energy generated, could summation by 50 percent.

Lienhard: Most of the desalination scenarios that we considered did not devour the afloat electrical output of that plant, meaning that nether astir scenarios you would proceed to marque energy and bash thing with it, beyond conscionable desalination. I deliberation it's besides important to retrieve that this powerfulness works produces 15 percent of California's carbon-free energy contiguous and is liable for 8 percent of the state's full electrical production. In different words, Diablo Canyon is simply a precise ample origin successful California's decarbonization. When oregon if this works goes offline, the near-term result is apt to beryllium accrued reliance connected earthy state to nutrient electricity, meaning a emergence successful California's c emissions.

Q: This works successful peculiar has been highly arguable since its inception. What's your appraisal of the plant's information beyond its scheduled shutdown, and however bash you spot this study arsenic contributing to the decision-making astir that shutdown?

Buongiorno: The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant has a precise beardown information record. The imaginable information interest for Diablo is related to its proximity to respective responsibility lines. Being located successful California, the works was designed to withstand ample earthquakes to statesman with. Following the Fukushima mishap successful 2011, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviewed the plant's quality to withstand outer events (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes) of exceptionally uncommon and terrible magnitude. After 9 years of appraisal the NRC's decision is that "existing seismic capableness oregon effectual flood extortion [at Diablo Canyon] volition code the unbounded reevaluated hazards." That is, Diablo was designed and built to withstand adjacent the rarest and strongest earthquakes that are physically imaginable astatine this site.

As an further level of protection, the works has been retrofitted with peculiar instrumentality and procedures meant to guarantee reliable cooling of the reactor halfway and spent substance excavation nether a hypothetical script successful which each design-basis information systems person been disabled by a terrible outer event.

Lienhard: As for the imaginable interaction of this report, PG&E [the California utility] has already made the determination to unopen down the plant, and we and others anticipation that determination volition beryllium revisited and reversed. We judge that this study gives the applicable stakeholders and policymakers a batch of accusation astir options and worth associated with keeping the works running, and astir however California could payment from cleanable h2o and cleanable powerfulness generated astatine Diablo Canyon. It's not up to america to marque the decision, of course—that is simply a determination that indispensable beryllium made by the radical of California. All we tin bash is supply information.

Q: What are the biggest challenges oregon obstacles to seeing these ideas implemented?

Lienhard: California has precise strict biology extortion regulations, and it's bully that they do. One of the areas of large interest to California is the wellness of the water and extortion of the coastal ecosystem. As a result, precise strict rules are successful spot astir the intake and outfall of some power plants and desalination plants, to support marine life. Our investigation suggests that this combined works tin beryllium implemented wrong the parameters prescribed by the California Ocean Plan and that it tin conscionable the regulatory requirements.

We judge that deeper investigation would beryllium needed earlier you could proceed. You would request to bash tract studies and truly get retired into the h2o and look successful item astatine what's there. But the preliminary investigation is positive. A 2nd situation is that the sermon successful California astir atomic powerfulness has mostly not been precise supportive, and likewise immoderate groups successful California reason desalination. We expect that that some of those points of presumption would beryllium portion of the speech astir whether oregon not to procede with this project.

Q: How peculiar is this investigation to the specifics of this location? Are determination aspects of it that use to different atomic plants, domestically oregon globally?

Lienhard: Hundreds of atomic plants astir the satellite are situated on the coast, and galore are successful water stressed regions. Although our investigation focused connected Diablo Canyon, we judge that the wide findings are applicable to galore different seaside atomic plants, truthful that this attack and these conclusions could perchance beryllium applied astatine hundreds of sites worldwide.

---

---