Page 264 - Handbook of Energy Engineering Calculations

contamination at Three Mile Island 2 after the accident in March, 1979. An
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electric evaporator operated for 2 years to boil off some 2.23 10 gal (8440
3
m ) of contaminated water from Reactor No. 2. Although some
contamination still remains in the reactor building, it is confined to the walls
and is not thought to pose any danger to the environment.
Since the reactor wall of TMI No. 2 was not punctured, it was possible to
leave unreachable radioactive materials inside the reactor. Over time, the

radiation level of these materials will decline. Some 150 tons of radioactive
wreckage was removed from TMI No. 2 reactor and deposited at the National
Engineering Laboratory of the Department of Energy in Idaho. A cooling
system malfunction damaged TMI No. 2 reactor core, leading to leakage of

radioactive gases. The cleanup has been completed.

NUCLEAR POWER AND ITS USE IN DESALINIZATION

Analyze the feasibility of building and operating nuclear-powered combined
electric-generating and water-desalting plants. Sketch the different types of
cycles that might be used. Determine the cycle to use for a water production
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of 100 × 10 gal/day (4.4 × 10 L/s), electric power net output of 500 mW,
and a desalting heat performance of 100.

Calculation Procedure:

1. Draw the cycle diagrams
Three cycles will be considered: the backpressure, extraction, and multishaft
cycles.

Figure 3 shows the backpressure cycle in which the entire exhaust steam
flow from the turbine is used to heat brine in the water-desalting system. For
a given amount of water produced, this cycle generates large quantities of
electric power.