Review of the Deployment of and Research into Generation III & IV Nuclear Fission Reactors for Power Generation

Abstract

Nuclear fission is one of the more popular and efficient sources of energy that has been used in the last few decades. In the setting of the ongoing worldwide debate of the energy problem, this paper will review the different types and generations of nuclear reactors, and do comparisons with other notable energy sources (biofuel and fusion). The current generations III, III+, IV of reactor (mostly pressurized water reactors), their thermal efficiency, technical (structure and configuration), lifetime, energy output and how the systems contrast are discussed. The paper was written by gathering information from UTS library online database, as well as online articles related to fission power, all sources dating from 2000s onwards. Nuclear fission power is a very dense energy source as it provides higher amount of free energy than other energy sources from the same amount of fuel. The drawback, which is the high amount of radioactive waste that accumulates over time, along with thermal efficiency are improved upon by the current and next generations of reactors.