Abstract Deterioration in heat transfer at supercritical water cooling in a vertical pipe is numerically analyzed. The calculation is based on a parabolic solver for steady-state equations in r−z two dimensions, a k−ϵ model for turbulence and a steam table library for physical properties of supercritical water. Calculation results agree with the experimental data of Yamagata et al. It is found that heat transfer deterioration is caused by two mechanisms depending on the flow rate. When the heat flux is increased much above the deterioration heat flux, a violent oscillation is observed in the temperature distribution.