Options and challenges of steam cycle components for SCWR

The steam cycle of supercritical water cooled reactors (SCWR) is intended to be based on the experience with supercritical fossil fired power plants and on boiling water reactors. Different steam cycle concepts have been proposed up to now for the SCWR, and its key components are discussed in more detail here. These are the turbine design, the reheater or steam separator design, the design and operation of the start-up system, the feedwater line with 7 preheater stages, the feedwater tank and the high pressure feedwater pumps. The paper highlights the design features, discusses the thermal-hydraulic and technical challenges and summarizes recent achievements. (author)