International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-4, Issue-12, Dec- 2017] https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.4.12.23 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O) www.ijaers.com Page | 151 Desalination in nuclear plants: a bibliometric study of research activity in scientific literature indexed by SCOPUS base Alberto Almeida dos Santos 1 , Cristóvão Araripe Marinho 2, Julio Vieira Neto 3, José Rodrigues de Farias Filho 4 1,3,4 Laboratory of Technology, Business Management and Environment, Federal Fluminense University, Brazil 2 Department of Administration and Logistics, National Nuclear Energy Commission, Brazil Abstract— With the scarcity of fresh water, desalination is an important instrument to be considered for the production of non-salinized water through waste heat in the dual use of nuclear reactors. The gap that this study seeks to fill is related to the use of bibliometric method, based on information structure, about the scientific studies indexed on the evolution of the topic desalination in nuclear power plants. The objective of this work is to map the themes in the scientific literature between 1966 and the first semester of 2017. Data were collected from the research activities indexed by the SCOPUS database and analyzed with the support of bibliometric software VOSviewer. Among others, the results of the research led to the following conclusions: (1) the articles published in indexed journals represent the largest percentage of the type of instrument used for scientific dissemination, representing 64% of the documents; (2) it is estimated that between the years 2016 and 2025 the indexed research activities involving nuclear desalination continued to grow sharply. Keywords— bibliometric study, desalination, nuclear power plants, scientific literature. I. INTRODUCTION Deep transformations occurred, in the last decades, in society, public, private and third sector’s organizations’ perception of fresh water use, understood as the water destined to industrial and agricultural use and to human consumption as exhaustible and essential to life and human activities (SHARP, 2017; THISSEN, ET AL., 2017; MANJU e SAGAR, 2017). Considering that the larger water volume in the planet is brackish, today, to a greater or lesser degree, and seasonally, scarcity of fresh water was observed in several countries, which has motivated the debate on the alternatives to its sustainable use and increment its obtention based on purification processes and salt extraction. (VICTORINO, 2007; JAEGERMEYR, 2017; FANE, 2017). In this sense, Hirata (2000) defends that potable water supply to all is the big challenge of humankind in the next years, considering that good quality water can reduce death rate and increase population’s life span (WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, 2004). The following facts contribute to the challenge indicated by Hirata (2000): population growth, poor geographical distribution of water resources, rainfall rates instability (ADETAYO, ET AL., 2008; YANO, 2016, AMARASINGHE, ET AL., 2017). These phenomena have pressed and motivated governments, non- governmental organizations and the scientific community to seek alternatives to increment water production and sustainability in its use (SULLIVAN, ET AL., 2017; HASSANLI e EBRAHIMIAN, 2017). Thus, in this environment with fresh water scarcity and abundance of brackish water, desalination becomes an important means to be considered to obtain non salinized water (BASKI, 2017; JOO e KWAK, 2017; YANG, ET AL., 2017). To desalinate water it is necessary to warm it, which requires a heat generating source like: hydraulic, natural gas, oil, coal, biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, biogas and nuclear (GAID e COEYTAUX, 2015; LOVEDAY, 2014; BECKER, LAVEE e TAVOR, 2012). According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 449 nuclear reactors spread across 30 countries produce approximately 11% of the total electric energy generated by man. In this operation, for producing a considerable level of residual heat, thermonuclear plants are potential means to desalinate water, based on the dual use of nuclear reactors, the binomial – electric energy generation / obtention of fresh water (ALJOHANI, ABDUL-FATTAH e ALMARSHAD, 2005; ELASKARY, 2013; JAIN e JAIN, 2007; PETERSON- RETIRED SR, 2008). In this context, one can observe that, since the 1960s, there has been a deep advance in indexed researches on desalination in nuclear plants. The theme is increasingly