They have probably considered this, but how about getting away from the thermal conversion process, heating water to produce steam to turn turbines, and use the plasma movement to induce a current via magnetic coupling. The power can be transferred via the magnetic field.
The problem might be the erratic nature of the induced current. But can be overcome.
It has always struck me as an oddity of science that we
are using nuclear power to boil water.
If we only could do that and make a reactor small enough
to weigh less than a tender of coal, steam trains could
make a comeback.
A direct nuclear to electric should be possible too.
Yeah, magnetic induction is one of the methods people have been trying to use for direct energy conversion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_energy_conversion