REVIEW OF THE WESTERN-EUROPEAN BREEDER PROGRAMS

Since the beginning of the nuclear era, breeder reactors were recogniz ed as the best way to make use of uranium resources. In Europe, the ea rly development of the liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) was i nitiated in England and in France in the mid-50s. Two demonstration pl ants, the PER in Scotland and Phenix in France, started operation in t he mid-70s. The 1200 MWe commercial size LMFBR Superphenix, built and operated by an international consortium from France, Germany, and Ital y, first reached full power in 1986. Besides electricity production an d the demonstration of breeding gain, it is scheduled to test burning of plutonium and other actinides in a fast flux. Present European deve lopments are now focused on the:design of a commercial European fast r eactor (the 1500 MWe EFR), which could become economically competitive with LWRs when the price of uranium has increased several times. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.