§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Technology what experimental facilities for the improvement of desalination plant have been commissioned at Harwell.
§ Mr. J. P. W. MallalieuHarwell is continuing R & D into three desalination processes:136W
- (a) Small scale experiments on the freezing process are being carried out and there is also a pilot facility to examine the growth of ice crystals and the separation of them from the waste brine.
- (b) Reverse osmosis experiments are undertaken, concentrating upon tests on a variety of membranes and the development of a modular design of equipment suitable for large scale manufacture, and
- (c) The flash distillation research at Harwell includes experiments on the control of scaling deposits and investigations into how sea water boils in the separate stages of a flash distillation plant. The facilities include experimental equipment for corrosion tests.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Technology if he will make a progress report on the second programme of work by the Atomic Energy Authority for a period up to 31st March, 1971, involving a continuing study of desalination plants powered by nuclear reactors.
§ Mr. J. P. W. MallalieuThe Atomic Energy Authority and its industrial partners are studying improvements in present methods of desalination and are developing alternative methods, for use with nuclear or other heat sources.
Completed design studies using both the A.G.R. and S.G.H.W. reactor coupled with multi-stage flash plants, are available should suitable commercial opportunities arise.
Commercial tenders are now calling for 5 million gallons a day plant units and an integral part of the Authority's R & D programme is the development of large module distillation plants of 10 million gallons a day capacity; this size is large enough to cope with the water outputs envisaged in proposed nuclear dual purpose schemes.