Estimates were made in the Republic of Singapore of the cost of desalting water and generating electricity there. These estimates were for both nuclear and fossil-fired plants and were obtained with the help of a generalized International Atomic Energy Agency technical report and nine economic studies performed by US firms for specific locations throughout the world. The results indicated that sea water could not be desalted for less than perhaps 5O¢/1000 gal from dual-purpose plants of the largest size satisfactory for Singapore, i.e., ∼200 MW(e) and 20 to 100 million gallons per day. This cost appeared approximately the same whether from nuclear or fossil-fired plants. The results also indicated that electricity could probably be generated at a somewhat lower cost in a single-purpose fossil-fired plant than in a single-purpose nuclear unit. It was concluded that the use of nuclear energy did not appear to offer highly significant benefits to Singapore for desalting water or generating electricity during the next ten years.