Reactor Designs

These were the prototype commercial reactors of the 1950s and 1960s.

These are the reactors deployed in the 1970s and 1980s and currently in commercial use today. In the United States, they include such light-water reactors as the boiling water reactor (BWR) and the pressurized water reactor (PWR), and, in Canada, the CANDU heavy-water reactor.

Referred to as advanced-design nuclear power plants, these reactors include the advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR), the System 80+ advanced pressurized water reactor (APWR), and the AP600 passive-design reactor. These designs were developed in the United States and certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the 1990s. ABWRs and APWRs have been built and are in operation in other countries around the world.

These are reactors that can be deployed by 2010. They have been under development during the 1990s and are in various stages of design and implementation now. They include the pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) and the AP1000. Both have passive safety designs and the PBMR is gas-cooled, two technological features that may foreshadow Generation IV reactors. These designs have not been certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission yet.

Generation IV nuclear reactors are those identified by the Generation IV International Forum, which was initiated by the U.S. Department of Energy and has 10 international member countries. Most Gen IV reactors are in the conceptual or experimental stage and are considered deployable around 2030, provided that appropriate development begin now. The Department of Energy document "Overview of Generation IV Technology Roadmap" from September 2002 contains diagrams of six Gen IV reactors.