Sodium-cooled fast reactors

The world has become aware of the limitations of currently known energy resources: after coal, oil (proven reserves of 100 billion tonnes) and uranium (proven reserves of 3.5 million tonnes, which corresponds, when used in light water reactors, to the energy equivalent of half the proven oil reserves).

The world's energy needs are growing all the time, and while we await the advent of a new way of producing energy (such as thermonuclear fusion), it's vital to economize on currently known sources, especially uranium.

After outlining developments in the fast breeder reactor (FBR) sector worldwide since 1988, we describe the changes that have taken place at the Creys-Malville plant.

The results of the European collaboration that led to the design of the EFR (European Fast Reactor) are the subject of a new article in this treatise [B 3 171] Projet EFR European Fast Reactor.