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What Is A Fast Neutron Reactor (FBR)? How And Why Fast Neutron, Fast Breeder Sodium Cooled Reactors Like PRISM, FNR And FBTR, Never Lived Up To The Hype Or The Promises; Fast Breeders In India, Russia, US, UK, Germany, France, Japan All Failed

What Is A Fast Neutron Reactor (FBR)? How And Why Fast Neutron, Fast Breeder Sodium Cooled Reactors Like PRISM, FNR And FBTR, Never Lived Up To The Hype Or The Promises; Fast Breeders In India, Russia, US, UK, Germany, France, Japan All Failed

WHAT IS A FAST NEUTRON REACTOR?


Fast neutron reactors (FNR) are unmoderated and use fast neutrons to cause fission. Hence they mostly use plutonium as their basic fuel, or sometimes high-enriched uranium to start them off (they need about 20-30% fissile nuclei in the fuel). The plutonium is bred from U-238 during operation. If the FNR is configured to have a conversion ratio above 1 (i.e., more fissile nuclei are created than fissioned) as originally designed, it is called a Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR). FNRs use liquid metal coolants such as sodium and operate at higher temperatures. World Nuclear Organization,



Source/credit; Physics Club

WHAT ARE NEUTRONS AND NEUTRON BEAMS?



What Are Neutrons? Cold, Thermal, Slow, Intermediate And Fast Neutron Radiation, Space Neutrons, How To Calculate Neutron Radiation Exposure, Shop And Price Compare Neutron Radiation Detectors

What Does A Neutron Beam Look Like? Deadly Neutron Radiation Poisoning Accident Via Demon Plutonium Core Killed Scientists; How And Why Neutron Radiation Kills People At Long Distances, Geiger Counter Radiation Detectors Do Not 'See' This Type Of Radiation

WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS AROUND FAST NEUTRON, FAST BREEDER REACTORS? 


Dr. Helen Caldicott MD explores the subject of fast neutron, fast breeder reactors. 
Each nuclear reactor makes 30 tons of nuclear waste. The waste must be chopped up by remote control. Then it is melted in nitric acid. Hot plutonium is extracted from this, up to 500 pounds of it per year, per reactor. 

Then these 'experts' want to take the plutonium and put 5 to 50 tons of this plutonium or MOX fuel into a reactor cooled by liquid sodium. If you lose the coolant, the reactor will not only melt down, it will then explode in a massive way that also scatters tons of plutonium globally. Liquid sodium when exposed to air, burns spontaneously, so if there are any leaks, one has a huge unquenchable fire, in addition to a potential melt down. It only takes 5 pounds of plutonium to go critical and explode. After all, that is what a modern nuclear bomb is made of; plutonium. 

They want to use plutonium to boil water... which is insane. In a breeder reactor you surround plutonium with uranium. This breeder supposedly burns the 'waste', but while you are doing that, you generate radioactive cesium and strontium, and only 10% fissions, so in the end 90% of the uranium is still left over. For the risk posed by plutonium, which is 2 million times more toxic than uranium, it is not worth it.



Source/credit; IAS for change

MOX FUEL RECYCLING BOONDOGGLE; POURING AVALANCHES OF TAXPAYER MONEY DOWN A HUGE BLACK HOLE THAT HAS NO BOTTOM

The third and fourth generation reactors are all being changed or built in order to burn MOX fuel, which uses plutonium recycled out of the nuclear weapons. Just ONE problem with this strategy that sounds good at first glance, is that it is a financial boondoggle.


Go deeper

10 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is A Dead End Technology, by Jeremy Rifkin - Advisor To Heads Of State Around The World
https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2014/04/5-reasons-why-nuclear-energy-is-dead.html

Trump To Expand Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons, Open Failed Yucca Mountain, Top Scientist Is ANTI Science, Denies Global Warming When FREE Solar Power Can Generate Enough Energy To Replace All Nuclear, Fossil Fuel Energy Plants Globally
https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2013/05/100-of-new-power-added-to-grid-in-march.html

100 BILLION SPENT ON FAST BREEDER REACTORS GLOBALLY, BUT SAFETY, COST, OTHER PROBLEMS STILL NOT SOLVED


Physician's For Social Responsibility; Re: Blue Ribbon Commission’s July 29, 2011 Draft Report
PSR believes that a nuclear R and D program beyond safe storage of radioactive waste (e.g., materials, geology) and clean-up technologies is a waste of taxpayer money. Over $100 billion worldwide has already been spent on RD for fast reactors and reprocessing and  the cost, safety, and proliferation problems have not been resolved.5

FAST NEUTRON BREEDER REACTOR CAN BLOW UP IN A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION, DUE TO LOSS OF COOLANT


"In a fast-neutron reactor, the concentration of plutonium is high enough that it can sustain a chain-reaction even in the event of a coolant loss.  Indeed, except for special core configurations, the reactivity will increase if the coolant is lost.13 Furthermore, if the core heats up to the point of collapse, it can assume a more critical configuration and blow itself apart in a small nuclear explosion.14 Whether such an explosive core disassembly could release enough energy to rupture a reactor containment and cause a Chernobyl-scale release of radioactivity into the environment is a major concern..."

In the same report above, it states that the sodium used to cool the reactors becomes highly radioactive. Normal sodium salt is turned into Sodium 24, with a 24 hour half life. The radioactive Sodium 24 decays into Magnesium 24.

SODIUM/POTASSIUM ALLOY IS USED AS COOLANT IN SODIUM COOLED NUCLEAR REACTORS; NEUTRON RADIATION MAKES THIS COOLANT RADIOACTIVE


Wikipedia; "Acute neutron radiation exposure (e.g., from a nuclear criticality accident) converts some of the stable 23 Na in human blood plasma to 24 Na. By measuring the concentration of this isotope, the neutron radiation dosage to the victim can be computed.

Sodium-24 is one of the more important isotopes of sodium. It is radioactive and created from common sodium-23 by neutron bombardment. With a 15-hour half life, 24 Na decays to 24 Mg by emission of an electron and two gamma rays. Exposure of the human body to intense neutron flux creates 24 Na in blood plasma. Measurements of its quantity are used to determine the absorbed radiation dose of the patient. This is used to determine the level of medical treatment required.

When the sodium-potassium alloy is used as a coolant in nuclear reactors, 24 Na is created which makes the coolant radioactive, via gamma radiation. When the 24 Na decays, it causes a buildup of magnesium in the coolant. Since the half life is short, the 24 Na portion of the coolant ceases to be radioactive within a a month after removal from the reactor.

Magnesium (Mg) 19 radioisotopes have been discovered, ranging from 19Mg to 40Mg. The longest-lived radioisotope is 28Mg with a half-life of 20.915 hours. The lighter isotopes mostly decay to isotopes of sodium while the heavier isotopes decay to isotopes of aluminium. The shortest-lived is 39Mg with a half-life shorter than 180 nanoseconds, or possibly 40Mg, with a half-life longer than 170 nanoseconds (the half-life of 19Mg is unknown).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_magnesium#Magnesium-24

LIQUID SODIUM REACTORS USED TO PRODUCE RADIOACTIVE SODIUM FUEL FOR NEUTRON BOMBS, OR MICRO NUCLEAR WEAPONS


We also hypothesize that Israel may be using or willing to use neutron weapons that use a powerful neutron source without nuclear fission. Tritium or sodium-24 (for the inflammatory effect). In that case however no flash is to be expected. The “DIME” pellets may actually include neutrons (deadly) and not (only) the metallic pellets that have been disclosed. Neutrons would have an additional carcinogenic effect for persons not in the direct perimeter of the blast (behind walls for instance, as neutrons cross walls very easily), but without leaving visible environmental traces as uranium does. The development of sodium reactors in France may be aimed at selling to Israel the activated sodium (sodium-24) needed. These reactors were always built in the south-Eastern part of the country : Superphénix in Grenoble, and ASTRID will be in Marcoule (Gard), so closer to the potential customer as sodium-24 needs to be quickly used after production (half-life of only 14 hours). We report, in the article linked above, a French call for tenders for new weapons, whose title actually is ASTRID (another acronym but who would be a fool?). It was started more or less at the same time as the sodium reactor project.

Sam Cohen - Inventor Of the Neutron Bomb; Did US Use Experimental Neutron Bomb In Iraq? Neutron Bomb Radiation Goes Through Solid Rock And Metal, Bounces Off Water Table Underground And Fries Anyone In Underground Nuclear Bomb Shelters
http://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2013/07/sam-cohen-inventor-of-neutron-bomb.html


HOW TO MAKE A “DEPLETED” URANIUM TINY-NUKE – WITH A FEW GRAMS OF HEU AND A GOOD CANNON

One point first : a French veteran (former AMX30RC tank driver) has confirmed fully the use of nano levels of nuclear fission in all the “conventional” heavy weaponry of the French army.

The recipe (you’ll need a centrifuge plant, very good explosives, a good cannon or missile and a nuclear reactor) :

Some very depleted uranium (the more depleted, the better, for instance you’ll find that French depleted uranium is officially acknowledged as going down to 0.14% of U235)
A few grams of highly enriched uranium (HEU)
A powerful alpha or gamma emitter, or tritium (produced in a nuclear reactor)
Beryllium used in combination with the alpha or gamma source for neutron generation
Hydrogen-rich plastic !
We make a depleted uranium arrow so that the body is made of highly depleted uranium (in an alliage so very solid) and the tip of highly enriched uranium (without an alliage so highly ductile). The whole ammunition has a percentage of U235 of 0.2%, but you can climb to 0.72% so that the resulting ash can be discarded as coming from the ground (as in the case of the Khiam crater where, in spite of an uranium concentration 10 times higher in a short perimeter around it, UNEP used the fact it was natural uranium to discard the military origin). This allows to use of course more HEU on the tip.

Former IAEA Inspector And Nuclear Physicist Says Neutron/Nuclear Bomb Went Off In Yemen, Comparison To Huge Explosion, Digital Camera Pixelations Prove This Was A Nuclear Device

Dr Busby; Depleted Uranium Dust From DU Weapons Travels Many Thousands of Miles Via Dust Storms, Radioactively Contaminates Civilian Towns And Cities For 4.5 Billion Years - Physicians For Social Responsibility (PSR)
http://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2012/12/depleted-uranium-physicians-for-social.html

REPORT SAYS SODIUM COOLED NUCLEAR REACTORS CAN NEVER SERVE AS PART OF LONG TERM NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL SOLUTION


"The International Panel on Fissile Materials released a new research report, Fast Breeder Reactor Programs: History and Status (a pdf copy of the report is here). The report argues that the track record of all fast breeder reactor programs demonstrates that sodium-cooled reactors cannot serve as a major part of the long-term nuclear waste disposal solution.

The report notes that "fast breeder" reactors already have been the focus of more than $50 billion in development spending, including more than $10 billion each by the U.S., Japan and Russia. Yet, the report further notes, none of these efforts has produced a reactor that is anywhere near economically competitive with light-water reactors ... After six decades and the expenditure of the equivalent of tens of billions of dollars, the promise of breeder reactors remains largely unfulfilled and efforts to commercialize them have been steadily cut back in most countries. The reactors have been plagued by high costs, often multi-year downtime for repairs, multiple safety problems, and unresolved proliferation risks."
http://fissilematerials.org/blog/2010/02/history_and_status_of_fas.html



FAST BREEDER REACTORS HAVE A TERRIBLE TRACK RECORD


VanneV November 18, 2014 "Fast Reactors: Unsafe, Uneconomical, and Unable to Resolve the Problems of Nuclear Power - “In the push for nuclear power, proponents of fast neutron reactors have portrayed this design as a new, promising technology that could resolve the question of managing long-lived radioactive waste. But the idea of fast neutron reactors is not a new one. “Ever since the first experimental fast neutron reactor generated electricity in 1951, 1 governments around the world have made huge investments into their development, but the return has been minimal. After decades of research and experimentation, fast neutron reactors remain unsafe, uneconomical , and unable to address the problems of nuclear power.

“Fast neutron reactors are typically high temperature reactors fueled by a plutonium / uranium blend and cooled using an inert gas or liquid metal. They were first promoted as a way to extend uranium supplies, because as they operate, unusable uranium can be converted to fissile plutonium that can be used as fuel. It has since become clear that uranium is more abundant than originally thought. Now, fast reactors are being advocated as a waste solution that would reduce the radioactivity of spent fuel by converting long-lived plutonium and other radioactive heavy metals in the waste into shorter-lived radionuclides. Fast neutron reactors, however, have a terrible track record in safety and economics, and are not capable of solving the waste problem.“There are four general types of fast-neutron reactors: sodium-cooled, lead-cooled, gas-cooled, and molten salt. “Up to now, only liquid sodium cooled fast neutron reactors have been built on any large scale. “HISTORY OF FAILURE…”

According to Scientific American, fast breeder "reactors have proved difficult to run reliably. "At one time or another, [fast reactors] were a priority program in the U.S., Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Russia," notes physicist Thomas Cochran of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. "They were largely failures in all those places and in two nuclear navies, so one should think twice before trying it again." 

According to Wikipedia; "Interest in breeders declined after the 1960s as more uranium reserves were found,[2] and new methods of uranium enrichment reduced fuel costs. 

Breeder reactors theoretically can also burn 'excess' plutonium for fuel, but in the few attempts that have been made, almost none of them have succeeded, and numerous cost over runs, accidents and incidents have led to breeder reactors being shut down more often than running or even generating electricity. 

Breeder reactor controversy 

Like many aspects of nuclear power, fast breeder reactors have been subject to much controversy over the years. Since the end of the cold war, uranium has been much cheaper and more abundant than early designers expected, making the economics of breeder reactors uncompetitive in the energy markets. (As of 2013, this upside down economic environment has gotten even worse, as uranium prices have slid by huge percentage points.)



BREEDER REACTORS ARE MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE THAN ORDINARY URANIUM FUELED NUCLEAR REACTORS


The capital costs for breeder reactors are at least 25% more than water cooled reactors. This has stymied their deployment and lent credence to calls for their abandonment. This situation is likely to remain until the demand for uranium exceeds the supply enough to drive prices much higher than they have been during the latter years of the 20th and early years of the 21st centuries.[43] (Since Fukushima, the financial situation for breeder reactors has gotten even worse.) 

Secondly, safety issues are cited as a concern with fast reactors that use a sodium coolant - a leak could lead to a sodium fire. Thirdly, since plutonium breeding reactors produce plutonium from U238, they could pose potential proliferation risks.[44]

(Plutonium is also 2 million times more hazardous than uranium, making a plant that produces or is fueled by plutonium 2 million times more risky to operate.) 

FBRs have been built and operated in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the former USSR, India and Japan.[1] An experimental FBR in Germany was built but never operated. 

There are very few breeder reactors used for power generation, and there are only a few being planned. In many countries, nuclear power has been opposed politically and thus many breeder reactors have been shut down, or are planned to be shut down, with various justifications. 

FRANCE FAST BREEDER REACTORS FAILED




SUPERPHENIX - the world's largest fast breeder reactor, shut down in 1983

Superphénix, 1200 MWe, entered service in 1984 and as of 2006 remains the largest FBR yet built. It was shut down in 1998,[50] having produced no electricity for most of the preceding ten years. The lifetime load factor was 7.79% according to IAEA.[46]

French Superphenix Liquid Sodium Cooled Fast Breeder Reactor Attacked By Terrorists, Cost 65 Billion Francs, (No Decommissioning) Generated Only 1 Billion Electricity, Then Closed

A report entitled 'Fast Breeder Reactor Programs: History and Status' talked about the Superphénix breeder reactor. It generated huge public opposition, leading to a massive 50,000 person demonstration that turned violent in 1974. Police ended up using grenades on the demonstrators to disperse them, resulting in casualties. The project proceeded anyway.

"The project immediately attracted significant opposition. In November 1974, 80 physicists of the Lyon Physics Institute highlighted specific risks of breeder technology and, in February 1975, approximately 400 scientists initiated an appeal that detailed their concerns about France’s nuclear program in general and the fast breeder in particular. France’s Rapsodie, Phénix and Superphénix breeder reactors and the UK’s Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) and Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) all suffered significant sodium leaks, some of which resulted in serious fires.

The history of the world’s only commercial-sized breeder reactor, France’s Superphénix, is dominated by lengthy shutdowns for repairs (see chapter 2). Superphénix went critical and was connected to the grid in January 1986 but was shut down more than half of the time until operations ceased in December 1996. Its lifetime capacity factor — the ratio of the number of kilowatt-hours that it generated to the number it could have generated had it operated continually at full capacity — was less than 7 percent. 

The histories of Japan’s Monju and the U.K.’s Dounreay and Prototype Fast Reactors and the U.S. Enrico Fermi 1 demonstration breeder reactor power plants were similarly characterized by prolonged shutdowns (see chapters 4, 6 and 7). Russia’s BN-600 has experienced a respectable capacity factor but only because of the willingness of its operators to continue to operate it despite multiple sodium fires.

As the country studies detail,a large fraction of the liquid-sodium-cooled reactors that have been built have been shut down for long periods by sodium fires. Russia’s BN-350 had a huge sodium fire. The follow-on BN-600 reactor was designed with its steam generators in separate bunkers to contain sodium-water fires and with an extra steam generator so a fire-damaged steam generator can be repaired while the reactor continues to operate using the extra steam generator. Between 1980 and 1997, the BN-600 had 27 sodium leaks, 14 of which resulted in sodium fires (see chapter 5)."

In 1978, France declared openly that the breeder reactor was going to produce military grade plutonium, and that the goal was to build many nuclear and neutron bombs, of all shapes and sizes. 


RAPSODIE Shut down in 1983

France's first fast reactor, Rapsodie first achieved criticality in 1967. Built at Cadarache near Aix-en-Provence, Rapsodie was a loop-type reactor with a thermal output of 40MW and no electrical generation facilities, and closed in 1983. The plant was also a focus point of anti-nuclear political activity by the Green party and other groups.

For breakdown of sodium fires and shutdowns due to leaks around this facility, go to;
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph241/dunn1/docs/rr08.pdf

PHENIX Shut down in 2009

This was followed by the 233 MWe Phénix, grid connected since 1973, both as a power reactor and as the center of work on reprocessing of nuclear waste by transmutation. It was shut down in 2009.[45] The life-time load factor was just below 40%, according to the IAEA data base PRIS.[46][47][48][49]

For breakdown of sodium fires and shutdowns due to leaks around this facility, go to;
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph241/dunn1/docs/rr08.pdf

SUPERPHENIX COST A TOTAL OF 65 BILLION BUT PRODUCED ONLY 1 BILLION WORTH OF ELECTRICITY


Bottom line Superphenix cost a total of 65 BILLION, generated only 1 Billion worth of power, and then closed. The decommissioning costs are estimated to be between 2 to 3 BILLION currently. This cost does not include the PHENIX or the RAPSODIE, so to be sure, these will only make the whole nuclear breeder situation look much worse.

How much electricity could have been given away for free, to how many people, for how many years for all of that wasted time, effort and cost? 

GERMANY FAST BREEDER REACTORS FAILED

KNK-II Shut down in 1991

KNK-II as a Research reactor was converted from a thermal reactor, KNK-I, which had been used to study sodium cooling. KNK-II first achieved criticality as a fast reactor in 1977, and produced 20MWe.[51]It was shut down in 1991 and is being dismantled[52]

SNR-300 Shut down in 1991
Construction of the 300MWe SNR-300 at Kalkar in North Rhine-Westphalia was completed in 1985 but never operated. The price had exploded from 0.5 billion DM to 7.1 billion DM, the Three Mile Island accident had heightened public opposition to nuclear power, and the expected increase in electricity consumption had not occurred. The plant was maintained and staffed until a decision to close it was finally made in 1991, and has since been decommissioned. Today it houses an amusement park (Wunderland Kalkar).[53]

THTR300 - Several advanced reactor designs in Germany were unsuccessful. Two fast breeder reactors were built, but both were closed in 1991 without the larger ever having achieved criticality. The High Temperature Reactor THTR-300 at Hamm-Uentrop, under construction since 1970, was started in 1983, but was shut down in September 1989.[17]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nuclear_movement_in_Germany

INDIA FAST BREEDER REACTORS FAILED


FBTR - Nothing But problems, problems, problems

India’s first 40 MWt Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) attained criticality on 18 October 1985. India has developed the technology to produce the plutonium rich U-Pu mixed carbide fuel. This can be used in the Fast Breeder Reactor.[55]"The reactor was designed to produce 40MW of thermal power and 13.2MW of electrical power. This breeder also had nothing but problems and issues. The FBTR has rarely operated at its designed capacity and had to be shutdown between 1987 and 1989 due to technical problems. From 1989 to 1992 the reactor operated at a mere 1MWt. In 1993, the reactor's power level was raised to 10.5 MWt. It did not reach full power until 2002, 17 years after it was put into service." http://www.nti.org/facilities/839/

Academic M.V. Ramana writes: "Breeder reactors have always underpinned the DAE's claims about generating large quantities of electricity. Today, more than six decades after the grand plans for growth were first announced, that promise is yet to be fulfilled. The latest announcement about the delay in the PFBR is yet another reminder that breeder reactors in India, like elsewhere, are best regarded as a failed technology and that it is time to give up on them."12

Nuclear plants in India vulnerable to terrorists, war and more
Inside of India, there are numerous terrorist and oppositional groups located in the same areas where nuclear power plants, research facilities, breeder reactor and nuclear weapons are located. It will be interesting to see how nuclear power mixes with the volatile political atmosphere in India, as well as between India and her neighbor, Pakistan.

JAPAN FAST BREEDER REACTOR FAILED

JOYO Shut down in 2007

Jōyō is a test sodium-cooled fast reactor located in Ōarai, Ibaraki, operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The Joyo experimental fast breeder reactor (FBR has been operating successfully since it reached first criticality in 1977, and has accumulated a lot of technical data. It is 140 MWt, and has been shut down since 2007 due to damage to some core components.

MONJU Shut down in 2011

Japan has built one demonstration FBR, Monju, in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, adding on to the research base developed by its older research FBR, the Joyo reactor. Monju is a sodium-cooled, MOX-fueled loop type reactor with 3 primary coolant loops, producing 714 MWt / 280 MWe.

Monju began construction in 1985 and was completed in 1991. It first achieved criticality on 5 April 1994. It was closed in December 1995 following a sodium leak and fire in a secondary cooling circuit, and was expected to restart in 2008. The reactor was restarted for tests in May 2010, for the goal to production usage in 2013.[61] However, on 26 August 2010, a 3.3-tonne "In‐Vessel Transfer Machine" fell into the reactor vessel when being removed after a scheduled fuel replacement operation.[62] The fallen device was not retrieved from the reactor vessel until 23 June 2011.[63]

A vote was held whether to fund Monju in 2014. The vote was to cancel all funding for Monju, except for what is required to maintain the facility in a bare bones fashion. No restart is planned or contemplated.

UK FAST BREEDER REACTORS FAILED

DOUNREAY Shut Down in 1994

The UK fast reactor programme was conducted at Dounreay in Scotland, from 1957 until the programme was cancelled in 1994. Three reactors were constructed, two of them fast neutron power reactors, and the third, DMTR, being a heavy water moderated research reactor used to test materials for the program. 

Fabrication and reprocessing facilities for fuel for the two fast reactors and for the test rigs for DMTR were also constructed onsite. Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) achieved its first criticality in 1959.

It used NaK (liquid sodium) coolant and produced 14MW of electricity. This was followed by the sodium-cooled 250 MWePrototype Fast Reactor (PFR) in the 1970s. PFR was closed down in 1994 as the British government withdrew major financial support for nuclear energy development, DFR and DMTR both having previously been closed.[65][66]

France’s Rapsodie, Phénix and Superphénix breeder reactors and the UK’s Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) and Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) all suffered significant sodium leaks, some of which resulted in serious fires.
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph241/dunn1/docs/rr08.pdf

USA FAST BREEDER REACTORS FAILED

EBR-1 Shut down in 1964

On 20 December 1951, the fast reactor EBR-I (Experimental Breeder Reactor-1) at the Argonne National Laboratory in Idaho[67] produced enough electricity to power four light bulbs, and the next day produced enough power to run the entire EBR-I building.[68][69] The reactor was decommissioned in 1964. 

ENRICO FERMI Shut down in 1972

The world's first commercial LMFBR (Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor), and the only one yet built in the USA, was the 94 MWe Unit 1 at Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station. Designed in a joint effort between Dow Chemical and Detroit Edison as part of the Atomic Power Development Associates consortium, groundbreaking in Lagoona Beach, Michigan (near Monroe, Michigan) took place in 1956. 

The plant went into operation in 1963. It shut down on 5 October 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 1968, and the plant was ready to resume operation by May 1970, but a sodium coolant fire delayed its restart until July. It subsequently ran until August 1972 when its operating license renewal was denied.

The first Idaho breeder had to be shut down after suffering a partial core meltdown; the second breeder generated electricity but not new fuel. The Fermi plant—located just 60 miles from Clinton Township—was plagued by mechanical problems, accidents, and budget overruns, and produced electricity so expensive that Detroit Edison never even bothered to break down the costs. 

CLINCH RIVER BREEDER REACTOR PARTIALLY MELTED DOWN, THEN SHUT DOWN; ANOTHER FAILURE


The Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project was announced in January 1972. A government/business cooperative effort, construction proceeded fitfully and abandoned in 1982 because the US has since halted its spent-fuel reprocessing program.[71] Funding for this project was halted by Congress on 26 October 1983.

"In 1966, the plant’s core suffered a partial meltdown after the cooling system malfunctioned; six years later the plant was shut down permanently. In 1983, when it was estimated that completion costs would deplete much of the federal budget for energy research and development, Congress finally killed the Clinch River program."

FAST FLUX TEST FACILITY Shut Down 1980


The Fast Flux Test Facility, first critical in 1980, is not a breeder but is a sodium-cooled fast reactor. It is in cold standby.


SIMI VALLEY SODIUM COOLED REACTOR MELTED DOWN NUMEROUS TIMES, ONLY 30 MILES FROM LOS ANGELES, NO ONE WARNED, NO ONE NOTIFIED, COMPLETELY COVERED UP

Simi Valley nuclear disaster, completely covered up and denied
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/vKwK35kKgI8

VanneV November 18, 2014 The meltdown at Santa Susanna was 240 times worse than TMI.
The Sodium Reactor Experiment was a pioneering nuclear power plant built by Atomics International at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Simi Valley, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_Reactor_Experiment

RUSSIA FAST BREEDER REACTORS FAILED

Thomas B. Cochran, nuclear physicist and senior scientist in the Nuclear Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said: "Fast reactor development programs failed in the: 1) United States; 2) France; 3) United Kingdom; 4) Germany; 5) Japan; 6) Italy; 7) Soviet Union/Russia 8) U.S. Navy and 9) the Soviet Navy. The program in India is showing no signs of success and the program in China is only at a very early stage of development. 

Despite the fact that fast breeder development began in 1944, now some 65 year later, of the 438 operational nuclear power reactors worldwide, only one of these, the BN-600 in Russia, is a commercial-size fast reactor and it hardly qualifies as a successful breeder. The Soviet Union/Russia never closed the fuel cycle and has yet to fuel BN-600 with plutonium." 
http://fissilematerials.org/blog/2010/02/history_and_status_of_fas.html

The history of the world’s only commercial-sized breeder reactor, France’s Superphénix, is dominated by lengthy shutdowns for repairs (see chapter 2). Superphénix went critical and was connected to the grid in January 1986 but was shut down more than half of the time until operations ceased in December 1996. Its lifetime capacity factor — the ratio of the number of kilowatt-hours that it generated to the number it could have generated had it operated continually at full capacity — was less than 7 percent. The histories of Japan’s Monju and the U.K.’s Dounreay and Prototype Fast Reactors and the U.S. Enrico Fermi 1 demonstration breeder reactor power plants were similarly characterized by prolonged shutdowns (see chapters 4, 6 and 7). Russia’s BN-600 has experienced a respectable capacity factor but only because of the willingness of its operators to continue to operate it despite multiple sodium fires.

As the country studies detail,a large fraction of the liquid-sodium-cooled reactors that have been built have been shut down for long periods by sodium fires. Russia’s BN-350 had a huge sodium fire. The follow-on BN-600 reactor was designed with its steam generators in separate bunkers to contain sodium-water fires and with an extra steam generator so a fire-damaged steam generator can be repaired while the reactor continues to operate using the extra steam generator. Between 1980 and 1997, the BN-600 had 27 sodium leaks, 14 of which resulted in sodium fires (see chapter 5).
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph241/dunn1/docs/rr08.pdf


The slow death of fast reactors
Three fast reactors are in operation in Russia ‒ BOR-60 (start-up in 1969), BN-600 (1980) and BN-800 (2014).1 There have been 27 sodium leaks in the BN-600 reactor, five of them in systems with radioactive sodium, and 14 leaks were accompanied by burning of sodium.14

The Russian government published a decree in August 2016 outlining plans to build 11 new reactors over the next 14 years. Of the 11 proposed new reactors, three are fast reactors: BREST-300 near Tomsk in Siberia, and two BN-1200 fast reactors near Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk, near the Ural mountains.15 However, like India, the Russian government has a track record of projecting rapid and substantial nuclear power expansion ‒ and failing miserably to meet the targets.15
https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/831/slow-death-fast-reactors

CHINA FAST BREEDER REACTORS 


The China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) is a 25 MW(e) prototype for the planned China Prototype Fast Reactor (CFRP).[79] It started generating power on 21 July 2011.[80]" 
Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor

China's program going nowhere fast
China has a 20 MWe experimental fast reactor, which operated for a total of less than one month in the 63 months from criticality in July 2010 to October 2015.21 For every hour the reactor operated in 2015, it was offline for five hours, and there were three recorded reactor trips.22

China also has plans to build a 600 MWe 'Demonstration Fast Reactor' and then a 1,000 MWe commercial-scale fast reactor.21 Whether the 600 MWe and 1,000 MWe reactors will be built remains uncertain ‒ the projects have not been approved ‒ and it would be another giant leap from a single commercial-scale fast reactor to a fleet of them.

Again, there are lots of promises and projections, but nothing positive is actually happening. The promises generate lots of money thrown at the nuclear industry, which then gobbles it up and does not deliver on it's promises. 

FAST BREEDER REACTORS ARE LIKE CHASING GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW


VanneV November 18, 2014  "Traveling Wave Reactors: Sodium-cooled Gold at the End of a Nuclear Rainbow?
Bill Gates on the wrong path with traveling wave reactors: despite $100 billion invested globally, sodium-cooled reactors plagued by leaks, accidents, and low reliability

Report: TWRs Will Likely Be Economically Obsolete Before They Are Commercialized
“…• The sodium-cooled reactor experience does not bode well for TWRs. “Sodium-cooled fast reactors have a checkered history. Some have operated well, while others have done poorly. The most recent commercial demonstration reactors belong in the latter category. The French demonstration reactor, Superphénix, operated at an average capacity factor of less than 7 percent over 11 years before being shut in 1996….The Japanese Monju reactor, commissioned in 1994, and connected to the grid in 1995, had a sodium leak and fire in 1995. It was closed until May 2010, when it was restarted for testing, but suffered another accident in August 2010. It has not been restarted since….”
• Power produced by TWRs would not be affordable or competitive….”


HOW DOES THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH STEALING BILLIONS AND DELIVERING NOTHING IN RETURN EXCEPT TOXIC, RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND NUCLEAR DISASTERS LIKE FUKUSHIMA AND CHERNOBYL, THAT TAXPAYERS ALSO END UP FOOTING THE BILL FOR?


SC ATTORNEY GENERAL QUESTIONS LAW ALLOWING SCE&G TO RAISE RATES

The S.C. attorney general’s office declared Tuesday that a 2007 state law that allowed utility giant SCANA to hike customers’ rates to pay for a bungled $14 billion, now-defunct nuclear power project is “constitutionally suspect.”

Also on Tuesday, the State Law Enforcement Division announced it would begin a criminal investigation of SCANA and its principal subsidiary, SCE&G.

FAST BREEDER REACTORS ARE ACTUALLY MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE THAN 'NORMAL' NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS; NUCLEAR POWER IS ALREADY MORE EXPENSIVE THAN SOLAR OR WIND


A closer estimate on nuclear energy cost options
However, and here’s where it gets interesting, if we switch from the once through fuel cycle to the fast reactor based full recycle option, the baseline price jumps by 64% to a whopping $139/MWh. And again, this baseline model, isn’t really accurate. For example, it assumes a capacity factor for the fast reactor of 90%, something that no FBR has ever achieved (most struggle to exceed 40%, the best is closer to 60%). Putting in more accurate values for both the LWR and FBR costs and performance, we get a price of $264/MWh.

Figure 4: Estimated fuel inventories for different nuclear energy options, MOX reprocessing or fast reactor reprocessing means a modest reduction in HLW in exchange for a significant increase in LLW [UCUSA, 2014]


This confirms one of the arguments I’ve long made, fast reactors make no sense, unless you are allergic to money! They’ll end up greatly increasing the costs of nuclear electricity to well past the point where anyone would be willing to pay for it. Yes once-thro does mean throwing away most of the fissile material, but the cost of recovering that material is simply too high. This was essentially the conclusion of both the 2011 MIT report into the nuclear fuel cycle and the Harvard study of 2003. The only situation where either report thought fast reactors (or Thorium) would make the slightest sense would be if renewable costs failed to drop as predicted, energy costs skyrocketed and the cost of uranium soared. None of those have happened, in fact the opposite has happened in all three cases.



Finally, the baseline Bulletin model suggests that using the MOX recycle route will cost $227.5/MWh, although its closer to $254/MWh (£196/MWh) for my “adjusted” model. Some nuclear advocates see MOX recycling as a happy compromise. Yes, we know the fast reactor route isn’t really viable on a technical level, but we can at least get some reuse out the fuel rods via the MOX route and save some money in the process. Well this model suggest no, that’s not the case. Indeed, it suggests that for the UK we’ll be paying more than double the strike price for every kWh of Hinkley’s electricity. And when I say “we” keep in mind that at least half of those costs are being met by the taxpayer not EDF. Indeed, given that the strike price amounts to a subsidy rate of 68% per kWh (paid for by UK bill payers), the actual cost to EDF will be closer to 15% of the cost per MWh of Hinkley….and that still might be enough to break them!Much more at; https://daryanblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/a-closer-estimate-on-nuclear-energy-cost-options/


Solar And Wind Energy Cheaper Than Oil, Gas, Nuclear And Coal; Solar Plus Wind Energy Disrupting Fossil Fuel And Nuclear Energy Monopolies, World Can Be Nuclear And Carbon Free By 2050, Be Part Of The Energy Revolution

Conservatives Love Solar Energy; It Means Freedom, Energy Choices, More Competition (Free Market) Lower Cost, Less Risk, National Security Improvement, Innovation, More Stable Employment, And Good Jobs That Cannot Be Outsourced

SUMMARY


There is no 'clean' way to reprocess nuclear spent fuel and then burn it. Doing anything to spent fuel generates huge amounts of radiation which is released to the environment. Burning plutonium via MOX fuel is much more dangerous, volatile and TOXIC when compared to burning uranium, and the consequences are orders of magnitude worse when something goes wrong around plutonium.

There is a revolution going on. This revolution is fossil fuel and nuclear free. Be part of the revolution. This revolution will not be on TV or in the mass media, which is controlled by the 1 percent, and the nuclear/fossil fuel monopolies.


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Index, Table Of Contents

End

What Is A Fast Neutron Reactor (FBR)? How And Why Fast Neutron, Fast Breeder Sodium Cooled Reactors Like PRISM, FNR And FBTR, Never Lived Up To The Hype Or The Promises; Fast Breeders In India, Russia, US, UK, Germany, France, Japan All Failed


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