Mohammad Mizanur Rahman
Kyushu University, Bangladesh
Title: Design Concepts of Supercritical Water Cooled Reactor (SCWR) for Ship Applications
Biography
Biography: Mohammad Mizanur Rahman
Abstract
Supercritical Water Cooled Reactors (SCWRs) are promising nuclear systems partly on account of their high thermal efficiency (about 45% compared to about 33% efficiency for current Light Water Reactors) and partly on account of their relative simplicity in terms of plant construction. SCWR is the only reactor design using water as a coolant among the six reactor types being investigated by the GEN-IV International Forum (GIF). SCWR can be used in land based power plants as well as within marine vessels (ships and submarines). As SCWR uses water as a coolant, it is very compatible with the operating environment of ships which are operating in the water. More importantly, the SCWR system is very compact which is suitable for transportation applications. In general, SCWR designs can be classified as either pressure-vessel type or pressure-tube type. The pressure-vessel concept was proposed first in Japan and again more recently by the Euratom partnership. The pressure tube concept was first proposed in Canada, and is referred to as the Canadian SCWR. These concepts have many similar features such as; outer pressure, outer temperatures, steam cycle options, materials and heat transfer characteristics. In this study, a qualitative analysis of existing SCWR conceptual designs was conducted. A comparison of these designs as well as a review of reactor designs for submarine and ship was carried out. Based on the operating conditions and performance requirements for ships, an optimal SCWR design for ships was proposed. The verification of this design requires further quantitative analysis and experiment.