TEXAS, USA — Texas is growing in population and business, and with that comes meeting increased energy and water needs.
One way the state is looking to do that is through advanced energy, such as nuclear, which could be starting in the Permian Basin thanks to a new partnership.
As oil is produced, so is high-salinity water.
Rusty Smith, Executive Director of the Texas Produced Water Consortium said the organization are “looking for excess volumes of produced water."
For that excess, in comes the Permian Basin.
“That could really help us tackle this future water need," Smith said.
Produced water needs energy to be treated by facilities into a usable water source, which is a goal for the Texas Produced Water Consortium.
A partnership between them and Nuclear Energy company Natura Resources aims to deploy liquid fueled molten salt reactors in order to do that.
“What we’re discussing right now is building a reactor in the Permian Basin that’s going to provide sources of that energy for water treatment facilities in the Permian Basin as well as any other end users depending on the size and the scope of that reactor being able to supply other end users in that region," Smith said.
Those reactors aim to better efficiencies for the oil and gas industry.
“Being able to provide them viable pathways for treatment of produced water, being able to possibly have new sources of electric generation that they need for their operations in those remote areas of the Permian Basin – I really see it’s a massive win-win for everybody that’s involved," Smith said.
Being another source of energy can help the region and also the state with electricity.
“There [are] huge energy needs that are growing not only from population increase but data centers and things like that," said Jordan Robison, Vice President of Engineering and Program Management for Natura Resources. "So one, it’s just providing clean, baseload energy to meet those growing energy needs.”
Natura Resources is based out of Abilene, and they see an opportunity to be a leader in these efforts.
“Why should Texas not be a leader in the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies?," Robison said. "We’ve got the expertise, we’ve got the knowledge, we’ve got the companies and we’ve got the need for it. And so, that’s one of things we want to see is we want to see Texas stand up and be one of the leaders in the world.”
As one of the energy capitals of the world, the Permian Basin might be adding another source.
“It should not be seen as trying to replace the oil and gas industry, not seen as replacing the economic engine that’s been driving our state," Smith said. "Instead, I would say look at it as supercharging that engine. We are providing the support both in an energy source and in a water source in water treatment source to supercharge that driver of our economic engine for the state for many years to come.”
Natura Resources is looking to start with a nuclear research reactor on the campus of Abilene Christian University by the end of 2026.
Robison added that the expectation is to begin commercial deployment by the early 2030’s.