The French LMFBR's program: present status and future prospects

A reluctance to continue depending on fossil fuel imports for its electrical power demand led France in 1974 to create a program with the goal of an installed nuclear power capacity by 1990 of 60 GW. This power will result primarily from PWR type reactors. This paper addresses the vulnerabilities of a national nuclear strategy based heavily on PWR technology. First, the corresponding uranium needs would exceed France's resources by 1995, and return the country to the import-dependent strategy the program was created to avert. Second, the resulting plutonium production would lead to resulting reprocessing and storage needs. The implementation of fast reactor technology, this paper states, would eliminate or at least postpone these vulnerabilities through its superior utilization of natural uranium and its ability to control plutonium. The paper goes on to assess fast reactor technology in France and to suggest, along with the PWR program, the complementary development of a breeder strategy. It discusses the operating and research experience of the RAPSODIE, the PHENIX, the SUPER PHENIX and the CREYS-MALVILLE reactors, and the proposals which will be made to the French government in the coming years for breeder reactor commercialization.