SuperCritical Water-Cooled Reactors (SCWRs)
Advanced Gen-IV SCWR Reactor
SuperCritical Water-Cooled Reactors (SCWRs) are advanced nuclear reactors operating at temperatures and pressures above water's critical point (374°C, 22.1 MPa). SCWRs can feature thermal, fast, or mixed neutron spectra and are designed in two configurations: pressure vessel (similar to BWRs and PWRs) and pressure tubes (like CANDU reactors). Combining design insights from existing water-cooled reactors and supercritical fossil-fired plants, SCWRs achieve higher thermal efficiencies of 44-48%, significantly improving over the current 34-36%. These reactors offer economic benefits through increased efficiency and simpler designs. Representing an evolutionary step from existing technologies, SCWRs have yet to be built or operated.
There are two main core configurations proposed for SCWR concepts: one is based on light water reactor (LWR) technology using a large pressure vessel (e.g., Boiling Water Reactors (BWR) and Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR), and the other is based on a calandria vessel and pressure tubes (e.g., CANDU reactors).
The various SCWR concepts rely on the proven design technology and operation experience gained through the operation of hundreds of water-cooled reactors and experience from supercritical fossil-fired plans. Supercritical fluids are common in the power industry and have been used for more than 70 decades in the energy sector. The first supercritical boiler was built in 1960. The reason for using supercritical fluids in the energy sector is due to the enhanced thermodynamic efficiency of the system, which means the same amount of energy produced, but with less fuel consumed. For example, SCWRs aim to reach higher thermal efficiency (44-48% or more) than the current water-cooled reactors (34-36 %).
Furthermore, supercritical fluids have a unique characteristic: They behave as a single-phase fluid, allowing for simpler designs, such as a thermodynamic direct cycle. Several SCWR concepts opted for this cycle. Selecting a direct cycle reduces the number of components in the plant, thus reducing the plant's initial costs and potentially increasing the plant's reliability as no steam generators and associated components are needed.
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