In a world defined by climate change, water scarcity, and increasing pressure on coastal ecosystems, the 20,000-ton-per-day Seawater Desalination Project, Phase III of the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant in Shandong Yantai, emerges as a bold and visionary response. In a context where more than three billion people live under severe water stress and northern China faces a structural water availability crisis, this project represents a tangible model of how energy innovation can transform water security.
Located within the Haiyang Nuclear Complex, in Liugezhuang, Shandong Province, the project combines clean energy and water management in a single regenerative system. By harnessing residual heat from nuclear reactors, it converts an energy byproduct into a constant source of freshwater through Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) and Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) processes. This integration enhances system thermal efficiency and eliminates fossil fuel consumption, aligning with carbon neutrality and Water Positive goals by generating a measurable Volumetric Water Benefit (VWB) that replaces withdrawals from continental sources.
The strategic objective is to ensure a stable and sustainable water supply for the plant and communities in the Jiaodong Peninsula, a region where per capita water resources are less than one-fifth of the national average. Its daily production of 20,000 tons equals the annual consumption of more than 150,000 inhabitants, offering a resilient alternative to aquifer depletion and dependence on the Yellow River diversions. More than an infrastructure, it is a new paradigm of hydro-energetic cogeneration redefining the balance between development and sustainability.
The project is sustained by cooperation among state authorities, energy operators, and technology partners, under the principles of additionality, traceability, and intentionality, ensuring that every cubic meter produced provides a real and verifiable benefit. Thus, Haiyang not only produces energy and water: it drives a transition toward a circular and low-carbon water economy replicable on a global scale.
The Haiyang Seawater Desalination Project arises in one of the most water-stressed regions in northern China, where per capita water resources are less than one-fifth of the national average. The Jiaodong Peninsula, historically dependent on transfers from the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, faces a critical water security scenario threatening both industrial continuity and coastal community well-being. In this context, nuclear-powered desalination is not merely a technical response but an integrated strategy to secure the region’s water and energy future.
Located at the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant in Shandong Province, the project employs Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) and Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) technologies powered by residual nuclear heat, transforming 20,000 tons of seawater per day into high-quality freshwater. This innovation generates water without additional energy consumption or carbon emissions, drastically reducing pressure on local reservoirs and replacing continental withdrawals. Annually, the system produces more than 7 million cubic meters, equivalent to the water needs of over 150,000 people.
Immediate benefits include improved regional water security, elimination of dependence on external sources, reduced aquifer overexploitation risk, and consolidation of a circular energy model that uses waste heat to create clean water. It also prevents emissions associated with long-distance pumping and transfers, reducing the province’s carbon footprint.
This advancement has been made possible through collaboration among the national energy authority, the nuclear plant operator, and technology partners specialized in thermal desalination and digital control. The project thus becomes a symbol of public-private cooperation and industrial leadership aligned with ESG commitments and Water Positive goals.
Its model is fully replicable in other coastal regions with water deficits and access to residual thermal sources. Energy, chemical, or industrial companies can adopt this solution to diversify their sustainability portfolios, ensure operational resilience, and gain competitive differentiation amid new Chinese environmental regulations. Acting now is crucial: each year of delay means millions of cubic meters lost and one less opportunity to prove that nuclear energy can also drive hydrological and climatic regeneration.
The project adopts a high-complexity hybrid technical solution based on a nuclear system for co-production of water and heat. The intervention unfolds in three technical stages: pretreatment, thermal evaporation, and distribution. In the first stage, captured seawater undergoes multistage filtration, coagulation, and antiscalant treatment to remove suspended solids and prevent scaling. In the second, steam and residual heat from the nuclear reactor simultaneously drive MED and MSF units, producing high-temperature freshwater with thermal efficiency exceeding 90%. Finally, desalinated water is stored, monitored, and distributed to both internal cooling circuits and the public supply network, ensuring digital traceability and permanent quality control. This combination of gray technology and digital intelligence ensures a daily output of 20,000 m³, over 7 million m³ per year, with final conductivity between 1–2 μS/cm, far below the national GB5749-2022 potable water standard.
Alternative analyses included reverse osmosis and nanofiltration systems, but the thermal option was chosen for greater compatibility with nuclear energy, operational stability, and lower environmental impact. This choice reflects criteria of energy efficiency, reduced operational cost, low chemical consumption, and high replicability in coastal settings. In line with Water Positive and VWBA principles, the project meets the criteria of additionality, creating new water availability; traceability, through online volumetric monitoring; and intentionality, by directly contributing to regional water resilience.
Key risks identified include variability in seawater salinity, potential fouling in heat exchangers, and public perception of nuclear energy use for potable water. Mitigations include redundant pretreatment systems, real-time fouling sensors, energy contingency plans, and shared governance with environmental authorities ensuring transparency and operational safety. Structurally, the system design integrates preventive protocols against saline intrusion, accidental contamination, and pressure failures, reinforced by SCADA simulations and predictive digital maintenance.
Climate resilience is ensured through a design adaptable to temperature and salinity fluctuations, integration of next-generation anti-corrosive materials, and the ability to modulate thermal flow seasonally. In the long term, continuous monitoring, predictive maintenance, and external environmental audits sustain efficiency and benefit traceability.
Measurable multidimensional benefits include: hydrological, over 7 million m³/year regenerated, reducing pressure on the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers; environmental, residual heat use avoiding about 30,000 tons of CO₂ annually; and social, stable water supply improving public health and regional economic competitiveness. Economically, the model offers stable returns from energy savings and positive water credit valuation, strengthening ESG reputation and generating a demonstrative effect replicable in other coastal basins.
Its modular structure and low chemical demand make the system scalable in other coastal regions with nuclear or thermal infrastructure, such as Zhejiang, Guangdong, or Liaoning. Compared to reverse osmosis, it achieves 30% lower operating costs and 40% longer lifespan. Expansion is supported by public-private partnerships, circular economy frameworks, and international technology cooperation, establishing a replicable standard for sustainable nuclear desalination.
The project is executed under a phased and adaptive approach, synchronized with the expansion of Haiyang Nuclear Units 5 and 6. The first phase, focused on diagnosis and design, began in 2024 with hydrological studies, thermodynamic modeling, and selection of MED–MSF technology. This stage established the hydrological, energy, and environmental baselines, defining reference indicators (desalinated volume, water quality, thermal efficiency, and avoided emissions).
The second phase, covering 2025–2028, involves civil works, installation of intake, evaporation, and distribution systems, and integration with nuclear thermal circuits. It employs MED and MSF desalination powered by residual heat, ensuring a nominal capacity of 20,000 m³/day and thermal efficiency above 90%. During this phase, IoT sensors, electromagnetic flow meters, multiparameter probes (pH, salinity, turbidity, temperature), and a centralized SCADA control system are installed.
The third phase, commissioning and validation (2028–2030), includes performance testing, instrumentation calibration, and certification of produced water quality. The pre-project baseline showed an annual deficit exceeding 6 million m³ and 70% dependence on transferred sources. With the project, KPIs will compare “with” and “without project” scenarios in regenerated flow, energy use, avoided emissions, and reduced water stress. Data are recorded every 15 minutes via telemetry and validated quarterly by accredited laboratory sampling.
Physical and digital traceability is guaranteed from capture to delivery using georeferencing systems, smart valves, and continuous monitoring on a SCADA platform integrated with blockchain. Deviations trigger automatic alerts and reports sent to regulators and the technical operator. External validation occurs annually via independent auditors under VWBA 2.0 and NPWI standards.
The governance framework follows a collaborative model: the operator manages operations and maintenance; the energy authority oversees thermal safety; the water authority validates quality and usage; and external verifiers certify ESG metrics compliance. Agreements clearly assign responsibilities, define quarterly preventive maintenance, and implement digital predictive maintenance based on data analytics.
Monitoring and continuous improvement rely on VWBA/WQBA reporting systems measuring regenerated m³, avoided emissions, and effluent quality. Data allow comparison with baselines and inform technological upgrades. Annual reviews of thermal efficiency and energy consumption integrate innovations to optimize performance. This ensures benefit permanence, model replicability, and long-term alignment with Water Positive principles.
The 20,000-ton-per-day Seawater Desalination Project, Phase III of the Shandong Yantai Haiyang Nuclear Plant, is a technologically advanced intervention designed to convert residual nuclear heat into usable freshwater. The main intervention is a thermal desalination system based on MED and MSF processes that exploit residual nuclear energy without fossil fuels. The process includes intake, pretreatment, evaporation, condensation, and distribution. Equipment includes filtration units, cyclonic separators, surface condensers, heat exchangers, and automated SCADA control systems with IoT sensors. The plant covers 4.2 hectares, with a nominal capacity of 20,000 m³/day, producing over 7 million m³/year of water with conductivity below 2 μS/cm. It complies with China’s GB5749-2022 drinking water standard, WHO guidelines, and environmental management standards ISO 14001 and ISO 46001 for water efficiency.
Its relevance lies in resolving Jiaodong Peninsula’s structural water shortage, aggravated by aquifer overexploitation and dependence on external transfers. Before the project, deficits exceeded 6 million m³/year, and per capita availability was under 20% of the national average. The nuclear-hydrological solution provides an autonomous, stable, carbon-free source, transforming the local water landscape. Compared to the baseline of vulnerability and dependency, the new system delivers resilience, energy self-sufficiency, and circular resource integration.
Expected results are measurable: over 7 million m³/year of regenerated water; 100% reduction in continental extraction for nuclear use; approximately 30,000 tons of CO₂/year avoided through fossil fuel replacement; and improved water quality through reduced coastal aquifer salinization. Additionally, enhanced availability and lower environmental stress strengthen marine biodiversity, public health, and regional economic stability.
Strategically and commercially, the project positions Haiyang as a national Water Positive benchmark, providing tangible metrics of additionality, traceability, and intentionality under the VWBA 2.0 framework. It contributes to ESG commitments, enhances institutional reputation, and reinforces social license to operate by proving nuclear energy can generate measurable water benefits. It integrates with global sustainability frameworks such as SBTi for Water, Net Positive Water Impact (NPWI), and ESRS E3, linking technological innovation with verifiable environmental outcomes.
Its modular, replicable design allows deployment in other Chinese coastal regions (Zhejiang, Guangdong, Liaoning) and potentially arid zones with existing thermal infrastructure. Scalability factors include availability of residual heat, reliable energy infrastructure, and institutional acceptance for sustainable desalination projects. Replication is strengthened by public-private partnerships, technology cooperation, and green financing mechanisms with multilateral organizations.
The final expected impact goes beyond technical performance: it directly contributes to the regional water balance by reducing pressure on Yellow River transfers, enhances climate resilience, and ensures water security for industries and communities. Socially, it creates skilled technical jobs, continuous access to water, and stronger local water governance. For investors and global stakeholders, Haiyang offers tangible evidence that the transition toward a regenerative economy is achievable when energy and water converge within a shared ecosystem of sustainability and value creation.
