StarCore’s technology is designed to meet the fundamental needs of communities in a way that minimizes environmental impacts. We have already looked at how it contributes to energy security and food security, but equally important is water security: a safe and reliable water supply for people and the environment, now and in the future.
Small Modular Reactors are an environmentally and economically friendly way to power water treatment facilities. Their reliable electricity can replace diesel generators and reduce the cost of existing treatment methods. They also produce very high temperature heat, which can be used to protect infrastructure such as pipes in cold climates as well as enable previously prohibitive treatment methods such as distillation.
North American Crisis
The highest of the United Nations’ five tiers of water quality is something that many people take for granted. “Safely managed drinking water” means that it is accessible on premises (e.g. from a tap in a home), available when needed, and free from contamination.
About 25% of the world’s population lives in a state of water insecurity. What is perhaps more surprising is that nearly 3 million people in the United States and Canada―largely in remote areas―are part of this statistic.
This figure contains a disproportionate representation of First Nations and Native American communities who view water as a sacred gift that must be protected. They have struggled for generations to get water rights, adequate monitoring, and sufficient resources to build, maintain, and staff water treatment facilities.
As of writing, there are ongoing long-term drinking water advisories in 37 First Nations communities in Canada. Some of these have been active for decades, and all were supposed to be resolved by 2021.
Effects of Undrinkable Water
Beyond being fundamentally required for basic survival, clean water is necessary for personal, community and economic health.
When local taps are unsafe, families must rely on imported water, or may instead choose high-sugar beverages because they can be more enjoyable or less expensive, contributing to issues like obesity and diabetes.
Faced with other urgent expenses like groceries or heat, people wind up drinking or showering with untreated water, potentially causing preventable skin conditions and health issues such as gastrointestinal infections, which have a 26 times higher rate of appearance in Canadian Indigenous communities.
All of this has significant economic impacts. One study found that households without direct water service are 63% more likely to experience illness resulting in missed work or school, with an estimated annual economic cost of over $100 million in Canada due to lost production and healthcare expenses.
Trustworthy Water Needs Reliable Energy
Most methods of adequately purifying water at home or at scale require significant energy. Today, remote systems largely use diesel generators, which are reliable but expensive and polluting.
Wind and solar power offer a cleaner path, but they require large battery backups to keep systems running during long northern nights or calm days. Without a steady flow of energy, water pressure can drop. This can lead to contaminated water entering the supply and pipes in cold climates can freeze and burst.
SMRs offer a better path to safe water. They operate around the clock in any climate or weather, produce both electricity and heat, and release zero emissions. With predictable costs and reliable performance, they provide the foundation for safe and available water in any location.
High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGR), the type of technology in StarCore’s SMRs, are especially useful as they produce even higher temperature heat, enabling other purification methods. They also do not use water for cooling, offering greater flexibility in where they can be built and the communities they can serve.
SMRs Improve Water Treatment
It is straightforward to substitute SMRs for diesel to power the simplest water treatment methods that use electricity to power ultraviolet light and membrane filters, effectively killing bacteria and removing sediment.
SMRs can also provide the significant energy needed for cleaner water through reverse osmosis. This process uses high-pressure pumps to force water through extremely fine membranes that trap minerals. The steady output of an SMR makes it much more affordable than using diesel.
Thermal distillation provides a higher degree of guaranteed safe drinking water by using heat to turn water into steam, leaving all the salt, minerals, and heavy metals behind, and then cooling it into pure liquid water. It requires even more energy than reverse osmosis and is reserved for communities with very salty, brackish, or contaminated water.
This highly effective purification, which only needs heat and not electricity, becomes much more accessible with HTGR SMRs. The excess heat from the reactor core provides sufficient temperatures for thermal distillation while keeping electricity available for other uses, making it an option for any community where StarCore operates.
Clean water is a fundamental human right and a necessary component of healthy and functioning communities. Every dollar spent on it has a multiplier effect, reducing the burden on public health systems and allowing local businesses to thrive. SMR-powered water systems can eliminate the need for expensive shipped-in water and provide a foundation for long-term prosperity.
