can be substantially cooler than the vapor or gas; also, greater choices are available for wall cooling and for establishing materials compatibility than for solid fuel reactors. 2.2 Energy Conversion Another highly promising feature of UTVR-based systems is that nuclear energy can be used directly in its highest quality to produce electricity before it is degraded to heat. The UTVRs can utilize high-grade nuclear energy for direct conversion to electricity and to enhance the heat transfer process. Fission fragment interactions in the medium will produce significant ionization—including about 105 electrons per fragment—and can directly provide kinetic energy to the fuel-working fluid. Shown in Fig. 4 is a semi-quantitative graph showing the ‘quality' of energy utilization for different reactor concepts. Present terrestrial light water reactors (LWRs) have only
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