Liquid Metal Cooled Nuclear Power Plants: A Brief Review

Liquid metal cooled nuclear reactors for power generation are receiving new research interest because of competitive design technology compared to that of Light Water Reactors (LWRs). And also, out of six GEN IV reactor technologies to be designed and operated in the near future, two are liquid metal cooled reactors, namely Sodium Cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs) and Lead Cooled Fast reactors (LFRs). It is therefore important to carry out various studies related to liquid metal cooled nuclear reactors to support safe design and operation of SFRs and LFRs in the near future. This study carried out brief review on sodium, lead, and lead-bismuth-eutectic liquid metal cooled fast reactors. The review also covers recent experimental and computational studies as well provided some research concerns of liquid metal cooled NPPs that need attention to further contribute to the efforts being made to design and operate liquid metal cooled NPPs for electricity generation.