Updated Heat-transfer Correlations for Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor Applications

Abstract

It is expected that the next generation of water-cooled nuclear reactors will operate at supercritical pressures (~25 MPa) and high coolant temperatures (350–625°C). In support of the development of SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactors (SCWRs), research is currently being conducted for heat-transfer at supercritical conditions. Currently, there are no experimental datasets for heat transfer from power reactor fuel bundles to the fuel coolant (water) available in open literature. Therefore, for preliminary calculations, heat-transfer correlations obtained with bare-tube data can be used as a conservative approach. This paper presents an analysis of experimental supercritical-water data and new supercritical heat- transfer correlations, for water and carbon dioxide, developed as part of a larger project assessing the feasibility of Generation IV SCWR concepts.