MVM EGI participated in NUCLEAR DAYS 2022 in Pilsen, Czech Republic, where Balázs Lakatos (Director of Business development and Government relations) gave a presentation on the water-saving dry-wet cooling systems for the cooling of nuclear power plants. In his speech, he placed particular emphasis on future water shortages and upcoming extreme drought conditions, for which the dry-wet cooling technology is a long-term solution.
Recent studies estimate that the world’s energy production consumes approximately 52 billion m3 of fresh water each year. This significant water volume comes mainly from power plants that need it for their cooling processes. The cooling technology which consumes most of this water is the wet cooling system. This is used by both fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. The weather changes of recent years predict a lack of water in the future. This year Europe was experiencing its worst drought in at least 500 years, with extended hot and dry conditions. Power plants face water scarcity and are strongly in need of solutions to reduce their dependence on water. It is expected that the monetary and ecological value of water will be more recognized, thus the cost of water use will increase in the short term. For more than 50 years, MVM EGI has been a leader in the energy sector on an international level, with their proprietary water-saving cooling systems (such as the patented Heller system). A nuclear power plant is a long-term investment, for this reason companies need to think about the critical water shortage situation in the timeframe of 60 years. MVM EGI can provide a solution to help generate the clean energy of the future without using our planet's water resources. In the presentation given on the Nuclear Days conference in Pilsen, on September 14th, 2022, Mr. Lakatos has shown in examples what this long-term investment looks like in numbers. He specifically described how much lower the lifecycle cost of a Heller cooling system for a 700 MW plant and the lifecycle cost of a dry-wet cooling system for a 1200 MW nuclear plant are, compared to wet cooling systems. Mr. Lakatos stated as the predominant message of his presentation was: “we can reduce the water usage of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant with a dry-wet cooling system by 85%. With our unique solution, one block of the Nuclear Power Plant can save approx. 20 Million m3 of water yearly (in the case of a 1200 MW NPP block). On top of this, our dry-wet solution provides an additional safety circuit between the nuclear technology and the environment, with a major reduction in the amount of visible plume emitted by the system.”
Heller System:
Invented by EGI in Hungary in the early 1950s, the Heller System® has gained worldwide recognition as the ultimate choice for indirect dry cooling. The Indirect Dry Cooling System is applicable for the cold end of all kinds of steam cycles including fossil fired, nuclear, solar and biomass power plants.