Over the last four decades, the water problem has become a major preoccupation for the country’s high authorities. Algeria, with its overall water potential estimated at 17 billion m3, or 600 m3/capita/year, is ranked by the World Health Organization as one of the countries experiencing water stress. This stress is due to several factors: the recurrence of increasingly long periods of drought, the disparities between urban and rural areas, the unequal distribution of water resources in the country’s different regions, population growth, increased pollution and the effects of erosion in watersheds. These factors have destabilized the already precarious environmental balance.
To counteract this water shortage, the country’s top authorities adopted a comprehensive strategy in 2002 to increase water mobilization despite climatic variations, including the use of seawater desalination to exclusively satisfy domestic and industrial demand in the coastal strip and surrounding regions. This strategy has led to the implementation of a seawater desalination program with a total capacity of around 2.3 million m3/day by 2022. This figure is set to rise to 2.5 million m3/day in the short term.
In reality, the program in place is based solely on a fossil energy source, while desalination technology is energy-intensive. In order to ensure the sustainability of this non-conventional water resource and preserve the preferred source of energy, natural gas, it was deemed necessary and essential to carry out prospective studies using other sources of energy, such as renewable energies and nuclear power.
Currently, there is renewed worldwide interest in Small & Medium Reactors (SMRs), which may be of particular interest to countries with a moderately-developed electricity distribution network, given the ease with which they can be introduced into the grid. These reactors, operating in cogeneration mode, can respond favorably to simultaneous demands for water and electricity. The main objective set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to produce fresh water using nuclear desalination at a socially acceptable cost.
Today, nuclear power is a viable alternative. It is even seen as a very attractive solution, with low water production costs thanks to the development and technological mastery achieved. A number of demonstration units have been built, which has enabled us to acquire undeniable know-how. Cumulative experience in this field is estimated at over 250 reactor-years. Studies undertaken in this field, especially since the organization of the 1st International Symposium on Nuclear Desalination held in Deajeon, South Korea, in May 1997, have led to the development of tools and codes that have since been validated and are now essential for conducting feasibility studies.
In Algeria, research and development activities dedicated to nuclear desalination were initiated as early as 1991, notably through our institution’s participation in the regional cooperation project RAF/4/010. This participation culminated in a technico-economic feasibility study for seawater desalination using both nuclear and fossil energy sources, dedicated specifically to the La Macta/Oran site, then qualified as a nuclear site according to studies carried out previously.
During the 1997-1998 biennium, the institution took part in the regional cooperation project RAF/4/013, where the scientific community benefited from knowledge of developments at the time in the field of nuclear desalination, through participation in various workshops dedicated to the presentation and exploitation of versions of the software package dedicated to the pre-feasibility study which was in the development phase.
In 2005, a technico-economic study of seawater desalination using nuclear energy was initiated by the Directorate General of Energy of the Ministry of Energy & Mines in cooperation with the IAEA. Its objective was to carry out a pre-feasibility study of nuclear desalination at an Algerian site. This study represents one of the decision support documents for the introduction of nuclear power. The preliminary phase of the study was carried out during the period 2007-2009 by potential researchers from our institution in collaboration with technical staff from the Algerian Energy Company, where the project was domiciled. In this study, two potential sites were selected.
In 2010, with a view to enriching the technico-economic database of integrated nuclear desalination systems specific to sites located in the Mediterranean basin, as recommended by the IAEA, our institution introduced a coordinated research project to study the optimization of coupling between nuclear reactors and desalination systems for a potential site located near the Skikda industrial zone. This project ran from 2010 to 2012.
The results of the studies undertaken in the field of nuclear desalination on a national scale were valorized in the form of internal reports, publications and papers presented at various international and national scientific events.
The results of studies undertaken in the field of nuclear desalination on a national scale have been put to good use in the form of internal reports, publications and papers presented at various international and national scientific events.
COMENA continues to carry out technology watch activities in the field of integrated nuclear desalination systems, updating figures relating to water requirements, and updating data specific to potential sites for such installations, through a multi-disciplinary team which today has the capacity to support the main stages of a technico-economic feasibility study.
