> The GEN IV Forum reframes the reactor safety paradigm, from accepting that nuclear accidents can occur and should be mastered, to eliminating the physical possibility of an accident. Active and passive safety systems would be at least as effective as those of Generation III systems and render the most severe accidents physically impossible.
> Relative to Gen II-III, advantages of Gen IV reactors include:
> * Nuclear waste that remains radioactive for a few centuries instead of millennia
> * 100–300x energy yield from the same amount of nuclear fuel
> * Broader range of fuels, including unencapsulated raw fuels (non-pebble MSR, LFTR).
> * Potential to burn existing nuclear waste and produce electricity: a closed fuel cycle.
> * Improved safety via features such as ambient pressure operation, automatic passive reactor shutdown, and alternate coolants.
Gen IV reactors represent six different technology paths that represent the future of the nuclear industry.
From Wikipedia [1]:
> The GEN IV Forum reframes the reactor safety paradigm, from accepting that nuclear accidents can occur and should be mastered, to eliminating the physical possibility of an accident. Active and passive safety systems would be at least as effective as those of Generation III systems and render the most severe accidents physically impossible.
> Relative to Gen II-III, advantages of Gen IV reactors include:
> * Nuclear waste that remains radioactive for a few centuries instead of millennia
> * 100–300x energy yield from the same amount of nuclear fuel
> * Broader range of fuels, including unencapsulated raw fuels (non-pebble MSR, LFTR).
> * Potential to burn existing nuclear waste and produce electricity: a closed fuel cycle.
> * Improved safety via features such as ambient pressure operation, automatic passive reactor shutdown, and alternate coolants.
Gen IV reactors represent six different technology paths that represent the future of the nuclear industry.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_IV_reactor
Its basically just a catch all term that basically means, everything that isn't some form of a pressurized water reactor.