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Current and future nuclear power reactors and plants 161

UOX and MOX LWR fuel without any uranium and thorium support and also with it.
Other advanced-reactor concepts are being studied, which use the liquid-salt technol-
ogy, as a primary coolant for Fluoride salt-cooled High-temperature Reactors (FHRs),
and coated-particle fuels similar to high temperature gas-cooled reactors.
More generally, there has been a significant renewal of interest in the use of liquid
salt as a coolant for nuclear and non-nuclear applications. These salts could facilitate
heat transfer for nuclear-hydrogen-production concepts, concentrated-solar electricity
generation, oil refineries, and shale-oil-processing facilities among other applications.

4.3.5.6 Supercritical water-cooled reactors
SCWRs (see Fig. 4.35) are a class of high-temperature, high-pressure water-cooled
reactors operating with a direct (indirect) energy-conversion cycle and above the ther-
modynamic critical point of water (critical pressure: 22.064MPa and critical temper-
ature: 373.95°C). The higher thermodynamic efficiency and plant simplification
opportunities afforded by a high-temperature, single-phase coolant translate into

Fig. 4.35 Supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR): Supercritical water-cooled,
thermal-neutron-spectrum reactor with outlet temperatures within 510–625°C (shown with
direct steam-turbine Rankine power cycle).
Courtesy of Generation IV International Forum.