[en] This session had 18 presentations, interestingly equally from OECD countries and the emerging countries. The session provided an exceptional opportunity for sharing of technical information between countries - especially with countries with little opportunity for such sharing. Extensive new interest from many countries in producing hydrogen using nuclear power, especially using the SI process was clearly noted

[en] The Session 2 dealt with nuclear energy for non-electric applications: technology and safety. There were a total of 10 papers in this session. Some papers introduced the status of the national or international projects concerning the nuclear energy for non-electric applications. Some of the papers stressed needs for the nuclear applications, and suggested possible global markets in general and also local markets specific to desalination and district heat.

[en] The session covered in all fourteen papers from eight countries and three international organizations. Presentations included two regional and three national studies. Two specific studies were presented on applications other than desalination, namely oil shale sands and ethanol production

[en] This session featured nine papers from six Member States and the IAEA. Most of the author's focus centered on the economic and financial aspects of seawater desalination. In many cases, the tool utilized in the economic analyses was the IAEA's Desalination Economic Evaluation Program (DEEP) software code, which provides an economic basis for comparing different fossil and nuclear energy sources coupled to various desalination systems. The salient feature of this code and the pertinent information from the corresponding Coordinated Research Programme on 'Economic Research on, and Assessment of, Selected Nuclear Desalination Projects and Case Studies' was the subject of a presentation by the IAEA

[en] Five papers were presented in this session by representatives from OECD/NEA, IAEA, JAEA, FZJ Juelich and the IDA. The OECD/NEA paper dealt with the World Energy Outlook from present till 2030. The projected two scenarios include the Reference Scenario with present trends and an Alternate Policy Scenario in which technologies to help curb emission growth are likely to be implemented widely with consequent impact on different energy sources. The IAEA paper indicated that growing awareness of the need for environmental protection together with recognition of energy supply security that nuclear power is offering, has lead in many parts of the world to renewed discussion about the nuclear power option to meet increasing energy and electricity demands, particularly in developing countries. The IAEA has reflected this new trend of rising expectation in its programme by putting emphasis on assistance to those countries, which are planning to introduce nuclear power or intend to extend its capacity. More recently the Department of Nuclear Energy of IAEA has increased its scope of interest and included new activities on Non-electric Application of Nuclear Energy. The paper from JAEA reported that JAIF Committees on Nuclear Heat Application were established as early as in 1969. A number of useful publications were made covering the subject of industrial uses of nuclear heat, uses of LWR and HTR heat and contribution towards global environment protection. The paper from FZJ Juelich dealt with present role of nuclear energy in power generation and suggested combined heat and power (CHP) and nuclear process heat (NPH) as other forms of nuclear energy utilization. The strong points of nuclear CHP are: more independence of energy imports, increase in efficiency by ∼ 15%, reduced heat waste. The IDA paper gave a detailed account of the current status of desalination technology, future developments and prospects of nuclear energy as a source for future large-scale desalination on a sustainable basis. The details of the commonly operated desalination processes, MSF, MED, RO and hybrid plants including the capital costs and the energy consumption and their efficiencies were discussed

[en] Today, nuclear power plants contribute about 16% to the world's electricity generation. Because electricity represents less than one third of the primary energy uses, nuclear energy provides only about 6% of total energy consumption in the world. If nuclear energy were used for purposes other than electricity generation, it could play a more significant role in global energy supply. This could have also a significant impact on global goals for reduced greenhouse gas emissions for a cleaner environment. Nuclear power is the only large-scale carbon-free energy source that, in the near and medium term, has the potential to significantly displace limited and uncertain fossil fuels. To do this, however, nuclear power must move beyond its historical role as solely a producer of electricity to other non-electric applications. These applications include seawater desalination, district heating, heat for industrial processes, and electricity and heat for hydrogen production among others. These applications have tremendous potential in ensuring future worldwide energy and water security for sustainable development. In recent years, various agencies involved in nuclear energy development programmes have carried out studies on non-electric applications of nuclear power and useful reports have been published. The IAEA launched a programme on co-generation applications in the 1990's in which a number of Member States have been and continue to be actively involved. This programme, however is primarily concerned with seawater desalination, and district and process heating, utilizing the existing reactors as a source of heat and electricity. In recent years the scope of the Agency's programme has been widened to include other more promising applications such as nuclear hydrogen production and higher temperature process heat applications. OECD/NEA (OECD Nuclear Energy Agency), EURATOM (European Atomic Energy Community) and GIF (Generation IV International Forum) have also evinced interest in the non-electric applications of nuclear power based on future generation advanced and innovative nuclear reactors. The IAEA organized a Symposium on Nuclear Desalination of Seawater hosted by Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute in Taejon, South Korea in 1997. IAEA cooperated with World Council of Nuclear Workers (WONUC) and the Moroccan Association of Nuclear Engineers (AIGAM) on an International Conference on Nuclear Desalination held at Marrakesh in 2002. In view of the widened scope of the Agency's programme, it was proposed to hold the next International Conference in 2007 on Non-electric Applications of Nuclear Power. The objective of the conference was to share the experiences of Member States already engaged in the development programme in this area with those having interest and considering research studies. This conference, held April 16-19, 2007 at JAEA, Oarai, Japan, covered various aspects of non-electric applications of nuclear power utilizing combined heat and power (CHP). The major focus was on desalination, hydrogen production or other fuel production as a complement to CO₂-free energy sources and many newer industrial applications. This publication contains the text of all the contributory papers, summary of the sessions and the panel discussion at the conference. The proceeding will be useful to the scientists and engineers interested in research and development of the non-electric applications of nuclear power worldwide