Statement on the Desalting of Sea Water
(July 27, 1964)
THE President has requested the Department of the Interior
to collaborate with the Atomic Energy Commission, in consultation with
the Office of Science and Technology, to develop a plan for "an
aggressive and imaginative program" to advance progress in large-scale
desalting of sea water.
The President, in making his request, noted that the
Federal saline water conversion program has concentrated thus far on
research, and development efforts have been limited. Substantial progress
has been made, the President said, but much remains to be done and the
greatest necessity is to advance the technology of large-scale desalting
plants.
The President requested that the Interior Department
submit a report to the Budget Bureau by September 11.
The President also announced that a three-man team
from the Department of the Interior and the Atomic Energy Commission
is leaving for Israel to begin joint discussions with Israeli representatives
in Tel Aviv on July 27 on the desalting of sea water. This team is the
outgrowth of a two-day meeting held in Washington on June 2 between
President Johnson and Israeli Prime Minister Eshkol. A group will investigate
the technical and economic feasibility of building a combined nuclear
power and sea water desalting plant in Israel.
The United States representatives will be Milton Chase
and Stewart Mulford of the Interior Department and Irving Spiewak, a
nuclear reactor expert from the Atomic Energy Commission laboratory
at Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The President also announced that a one-week long international
symposium on desalting of water will be held in Washington beginning
October 3, 1965· The symposium will be sponsored by the Department
of the Interior and the Department of State with the cooperation of
the Agency for International Development and the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
In his request to the Interior Department, the President
said that every means should be explored to increase the momentum of
desalting progress by exploiting the now best developed technology (evaporators),
using conventional or nuclear fuels or both and by pursuing .other alternatives.
He said the plan should provide for the full use of existing research
and development facilities.
The President pointed out that a recent study made
under the auspices of the Office of Science and Technology indicates
that a combination of large-scale nuclear power plants and large-scale
desalting plants could produce power and water at competitive costs
by about 1975 in many water short coastal areas. He said the plan should
propose the best strategy and time schedule for relating the development
of large-scale nuclear power technology to the development of large-scale
desalting technology.
The President also requested that full recognition
should be given to the importance of sharing the benefits of American
desalting technology with other nations.
Sources: Public Papers of the President |