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TECHNOLOGY. A conceptual design of a direct Brayton-cycle marine power plant is presented. The design is a modification of the commercial MGR-GT, as proposed by James Staudt, sized to produce 40,000 shaft horsepower (SHP) and 5 MW of ship service electrical power. The requirements of a shipboard power plant are discussed and the design changes that must be made to the components of a commercial power plant in order to fit them into the demanding environment of a ship at sea are detailed. The final design consists of an 80-MWth passively-safe pebble bed reactor with an out-let temperature of 850*0 The reactor powers two separate closed Brayton cycle power con-version loops operating at a compressor discharge pressure of 8.2 MPa. Other features of the system are compact highly efficient heat exchangers, an advanced integrated electric propulsion system using solid state power converters and frequency changers, magnetic bear-ings, and high speed generators, both helium and water cooled. These features combined to produce system efficiencies exceeding 45%