 | Fast breeder: Encyclopedia II - Fast breeder - FBR generating plants
Fast breeder - FBR generating plants
FBRs have been built and operated in the USA, the UK, France, the former USSR, India and Japan. One of the plants in the USSR was also previously used for desalination in addition to power generation. As of 2004, a prototype FBR was under construction in China, while another experimental FBR in Germany was built but never operated.
On December 20, 1951, the fast reactor EBR-I (Experimental Breeder Reactor-1) at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho produced enough electricity to power four light bulbs, and the next day produced enough power to run the entire EBR-I building. This was a milestone in the development of nuclear power reactors.
The next generation experimental breeder was EBR-II (Experimental Breeder Reactor-2), which went into service at the INEEL in 1964 and operated until 1994. It was designed to be an "integral" nuclear plant, equipped to handle fuel recycling onsite. It typically operated at 20 megawatts out of its 62.5 megawatt maximum design power, and provided the bulk of heat and electricity to the surrounding facilities.
Another early FBR was the experimental Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) which started operating in 1959 at Dounreay, Scotland, using a sodium-potassium coolant, and producing 14MW of electricity. This was followed by a larger 250 MW Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) on the same site in the 1970s until it was closed down in 1994 as the British government withdrew major financial support for nuclear energy development (DFR having previously been closed).
The world's first commercial liquid-metal-cooled FBR, and the only such plant in the US, was the 200 megawatt Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant, commonly known as "Fermi 1." Designed in a joint effort between Dow Chemical and Detroit Edison as part of the Atomic Power Development Association consortium, groundbreaking in Lagoona Beach, Michigan (near Monroe, Michigan) took place in 1956. The plant went into operation in 1963. It shut down on October 5, 1966 due to high temperatures caused by a loose piece of zirconium which was blocking the molten sodium coolant nozzles. Partial melting damage to six subassemblies within the core was eventually found. (This incident was the basis for a controversial book by investigative reporter John G. Fuller titled We Almost Lost Detroit.) The zirconium blockage was removed in April of 1968, and the plant was ready to resume operation by May of 1970, but a sodium coolant fire delayed its restart until July. It subsequently ran until August of 1972 when its operating license renewal was denied.
The largest fast breeder reactor to date, Superphénix, entered service in France in 1984, producing 1,200 MW of electricity, and used a liquid sodium heat transfer medium. Its predecessor, Phénix is currently the centre of work on destruction of nuclear waste by transmutation. However, Superphénix was shut down in 1997 due to high costs of operation, and various incidents; the liquid sodium cooling system proved largely unwieldy. Superphénix was also the focus point of various groups hostile to nuclear energy.
The Soviet Union constructed a series of fast reactors, the first being mercury cooled and fueled with plutonium metal, and the later plants sodium cooled and fueled with plutonium oxide. BN-350 on the Caspian Sea produced 130 MWe plus 80,000 metric tons of fresh water per day. BN-600 commenced operation in 1980 and produced 600 MWe. Plans for larger plants were cancelled by the breakup of the Soviet Union. The BN-600 (Beloyarsk NNP in the town of Zarechny, Sverdlovsk Oblast) is still operational. A second reactor (BN-800) is scheduled to be constructed before 2015 [1].
On December 8, 1995 the 300 MWe Monju reactor in Japan was put out of service after a sodium leak. The reactor has received approval to restart, which is planned for 2008.
Fast breeder - Future plants
As of 2003 one indigenous FBR was planned for India, and another for China using Soviet technology.
South Korea is developing a design for a standardised modular FBR for export, to complement the standardised PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) and CANDU designs they have already developed and built, but has not yet committed to building a prototype.
The FBR program of India includes the concept of using fertile thorium-232 to breed fissile uranium-233. India is also pursuing the thermal breeder reactor again using thorium. A thermal breeder is not possible with purely uranium/plutonium based technology. Thorium fuel is the strategic direction of the power program of India, owing to their large reserves of thorium, but worldwide known reserves of thorium are also some three times those of uranium.
Other related archives1951, 1959, 1970s, 1984, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2008, CANDU, China, December 20, December 8, Detroit Edison, Dirty bomb, Dounreay, Dow Chemical, EBR-I, EBR-II, Enrico Fermi, Fast reactor, France, Germany, Hazel O'Leary, Idaho Falls, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, India, Integral Fast Reactor, Japan, LMFBR, Monju reactor, Monroe, Michigan, NaK, PWR, Phénix, SSTAR, Scotland, Secretary of Energy, Sodium, South Korea, Superphénix, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Thorium, UK, USA, USSR, Zarechny, actinides, chain reaction, desalination, electricity, electroplating, electrowinning, enriched uranium, fast neutron reactor, fast neutrons, fissile, fission products, half-life, heat transfer, heavy water, isotopic separation, lead, mercury, metric tons, mixed oxide fuel, moderator, neutron capture, nuclear reactor, nuclear waste, nuclear weapons, plutonium, plutonium 239, plutonium dioxide, potassium, sodium, spontaneous fission, thermal reactor, thermal reactors, thorium, transmutation, transuranics, uranium, uranium dioxide, uranium-238
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "FBR generating plants", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
