![]() The FNR was originally conceived to burn uranium more efficiently and thus extend the world's uranium resources – it could do this by a factor of about 60. Small FNR designs under active development (particularly SMRs) Reactor World fast neutron reactor statusįNR designs for near- to mid-term deployment – active development Reactor Both pool-type and loop-type FNR designs are seen to have potential, though most larger designs are pool-type. PRISM was under serious consideration in the UK for burning its reactor-grade plutonium stockpile while producing electricity. ![]() It is now putting significant funding into two versions of GE Hitachi’s new PRISM, the Versatile Test Reactor and Natrium. The USA has been focused on systems, materials and safety analysis with an extensive base of information and experiences as a result of past efforts to develop FNRs, notably the 400 MWt Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) and the 62.5 MWt Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II). JAEA is working on the design of a demonstration reactor to succeed the prototype FBR Monju, France was developing the Advanced Sodium Technical Reactor for Industrial Demonstration (ASTRID) with Japan, and wanted Japan to test its fuel in Monju. This expanded previous FNR collaboration towards the joint design and development of reliable world-class FNRs and getting private manufacturers involved. The design was unsuccessful and used in only eight trouble-plagued vessels, which were retired early – all but one in 1990.Īn agreement between Japan's Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), France's CEA and the US Department of Energy was signed in October 2010. Reactors had to be kept running, even in harbour, since the external heating provision did not work. * These vessels with titanium hull were very fast but had operational problems in ensuring that the lead-bismuth coolant did not freeze (at 125☌) when the reactor was shut down. It also put lead-cooled fast reactors into its seven Alfa-class submarines, which was not a conspicuous success but yielded 70 reactor-years of experience.* Russia is at the forefront of fast reactor development. It operates the only commercial-scale fast reactors and is building a 300 MWe demonstration lead-cooled fast reactor. For instance one scenario in France is for half of the present nuclear capacity to be replaced by fast neutron reactors by 2050 (the first half being replaced by EPR units). Several countries have research and development programmes for improved fast neutron reactors, and the IAEA's INPRO programme involving 22 countries (see later section) has fast neutron reactors as a major emphasis, in connection with closed fuel cycle. If the ratio is 1 they are iso-breeders, producing the same amount of fuel as they consume during operation. This is the burn ratio or breeding ratio. * If the ratio of final to initial fissile content is less than 1 they are burners, consuming more fissile material (U-235, Pu and minor actinides) than they produce (fissile Pu), if more than 1 they are breeders. But many designs are net consumers of fissile material including plutonium.* Fast neutron reactors also can burn long-lived actinides which are recovered from used fuel out of ordinary reactors. If they are designed to produce more plutonium than the uranium and plutonium they consume, they are called fast breeder reactors (FBRs). Fast reactors more deliberately use the uranium-238 as well as the fissile U-235 isotope used in most reactors. Over 400 reactor-years of operating experience has been accumulated. Generation IV reactor designs are largely FNRs, and international collaboration on FNR designs is proceeding with high priority.Ībout 20 fast neutron reactors (FNR) have already been operating, some since the 1950s, and some supplying electricity commercially.Over 400 reactor-years of experience has been gained in operating them.They offer the prospect of vastly more efficient use of uranium resources and the ability to burn actinides which are otherwise the long-lived component of high-level nuclear waste.Fast neutron reactors (FNRs) are a technological step beyond conventional power reactors, but are poised to become mainstream.
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