Solving water woes
As the most populous state in South Central US, Texas has a growing demand for clean water and clean energy. While oil and gas wells produce water as a byproduct during extraction, they do not serve any direct purpose. Purification by spending energy from fossil fuels is more polluting, but SMRs now offer a scalable solution that can help desalinate water.
Natura Resources conducted a feasibility study at the Texas Produced Water Consortium, based at Texas Tech University. With the MSR operating at 1112 Fahrenheit (600 degrees Celsius), up to 250 megawatts (MW) of clean energy is generated, which can be used for desalination.