Webinar 007: Supercritical Water Cooled Reactors

Supercritical Water-Cooled Reactors (SCWRs) are a class of high temperature, high pressure water-cooled reactors that operate above the thermodynamic critical point of water (374°C, 22.1 MPa). These concepts combine the design and operation experience gained from hundreds of water-cooled reactors with the experience from hundreds of fossil-fired power plants operated with supercritical water. The main goals of using supercritical water in nuclear reactors are to increase the efficiency of modern nuclear power plants, decrease capital and operational costs, and finally decrease electrical energy costs. This presentation describes SCWR concepts being pursued in the international community and highlights the technical advancements and challenges in the development. Laurence Leung has been working at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (formerly Chalk River Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited) since 1987 in the field of thermal-hydraulics. He completed his Ph.D. degree at University of Ottawa, Canada, in 1994. Laurence is currently Manager of R&D Facilities Operations and is also responsible for the development of the Canadian Super-Critical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR) concept. He received 13 awards from AECL (CNL) and external organizations, and delivered short courses on thermal-hydraulics and SCWRs. Laurence is one of Canada’s representatives to the GIF SCWR System, and is the Co-Chair of the System Steering Committee and the Thermal-hydraulics and Safety Project Management Board.