Best Reactor Designs

1. Supercritical-water-cooled reactor (SCWR)is a concept that uses supercritical water as the working fluid. SCWRs are basically light water reactors (LWR) operating at higher pressure and temperatures with a direct, once-through cycle. As most commonly envisioned, it would operate on a direct cycle, much like a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), but since it uses supercritical water (not to be confused with critical mass) as the working fluid, would have only one phase present, like the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). It could operate at much higher temperatures than both current PWRs and BWRs.

2. lead-cooled fast reactor features a fast-neutron-spectrum lead or lead/bismuth eutectic (LBE) liquid-metal-cooled reactor with a closed fuel cycle. Options include a range of plant ratings, including a "battery" of 50 to 150 MW of electricity that features a very long refueling interval, a modular system rated at 300 to 400 MW, and a large monolithic plant option at 1,200 MW.

3. very high temperature reactor concept uses a graphite-moderated core with a once-through uranium fuel cycle, using helium or molten salt as the coolant. This reactor design envisions an outlet temperature of 1,000 °C.

4. A molten salt reactor is a type of nuclear reactor where the coolant is a molten salt. There have been many designs put forward for this type of reactor and a few prototypes built. The early concepts and many current ones rely on nuclear fuel dissolved in the molten fluoride salt as uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) or thorium tetrafluoride (ThF4), the fluid would reach criticality by flowing into a graphite core which would also serve as the moderator. Many current concepts rely on fuel that is dispersed in a graphite matrix with the molten salt providing low pressure, high temperature cooling.

5. Lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) - The lead-cooled fast reactor features a fast-neutron-spectrum lead or lead/bismuth eutectic (LBE) liquid-metal-cooled reactor with a closed fuel cycle. Options include a range of plant ratings, including a "battery" of 50 to 150 MW of electricity that features a very long refueling interval, a modular system rated at 300 to 400 MW, and a large monolithic plant option at 1,200 MW.

6. B&W mPower is a proposed 125 MW modular, advanced light water nuclear reactor.. The reactor's power output is approximately 125 MWe, or approximately 10% of a typical reactor. The reactor's design includes an underground containment facility that would store all of the spent fuel the reactor would use during its expected 60 year operating lifetime.

7. The AP1000 is a two-loop PWR planned to produce a net 1154 MWe. The design is less expensive to build than other Gen III plants partly because it uses existing technology. The design also decreases the number of components, including pipes, wires, and valves. Standardization and type-licensing should also help reduce the time and cost of construction.

8. The Canadian Advanced CANDU Reactor is a light-water-cooled reactor that incorporates features of both Pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) and Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors (APWR) technologies. It uses a similar design concept to the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR).