Abstract Supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton cycle has many advantages including high power conversion efficiency at mediate temperature, compact configuration, high system simplicity and low efficiency loss using dry cooling, which make it well suited to nuclear reactor applications. S-CO2 power cycle can be used as power conversion system for almost all the nuclear power systems including small modular reactor (SMR), Generation IV reactor and fusion reactor. It can also be used as a self-propellant and self-sustaining decay heat removal system to enhance the safety of existing commercial nuclear power plant. An update of research activities is needed to identify the unique research interests and challenges of S-CO2 power cycle based nuclear applications. This paper is a review of the research activities which have been carried out for S-CO2 power cycle based nuclear applications worldwide. The characteristics of S-CO2 power cycle are presented first to explain the distinctive features of this power cycle. Then the progresses in the experimental study of integrated S-CO2 Brayton cycle test loops are reviewed comprehensively to shed a light on its technical maturity in laboratory. Moreover, a review of various research areas concerning S-CO2 power cycle working as power conversion system or heat removal system for nuclear applications are carried out. Based on these review works, the challenges and perspectives are discussed and highlighted in the paper. Conclusions can be achieved that S-CO2 Brayton cycle is a promising option to broaden nuclear energy’s application scope.

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超临界二氧化碳布雷顿循环技术在核工程应用中的研究进展

摘要 超临界二氧化碳（S-CO2）布雷顿循环具有中温能量转换效率高、结构紧凑、系统简单、干冷效率损失低等诸多优点，非常适合核反应堆应用。S-CO2动力循环可用作几乎所有核电系统的动力转换系统，包括小型模块化反应堆（SMR）、第四代反应堆和聚变反应堆。它还可以用作自推进和自持衰变热去除系统，以提高现有商业核电站的安全性。需要更新研究活动，以确定基于 S-CO2 动力循环的核应用的独特研究兴趣和挑战。本文回顾了世界范围内基于 S-CO2 动力循环的核应用的研究活动。首先介绍 S-CO2 动力循环的特性，以解释该动力循环的显着特征。然后全面回顾了集成S-CO2布雷顿循环测试回路的实验研究进展，以揭示其在实验室中的技术成熟度。此外，还对有关 S-CO2 动力循环用作核应用的动力转换系统或除热系统的各个研究领域进行了审查。基于这些评论工作，本文讨论并强调了挑战和观点。可以得出结论，S-CO2布雷顿循环是拓宽核能应用范围的一个有前景的选择。