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U.S. Fast Breeder Reactor Program Needs Direction

EMD-80-81 Published: Sep 22, 1980. Publicly Released: Sep 22, 1980.
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Highlights

The Administration and Congress have not been able to agree on the future role of fast nuclear breeder reactors. They cannot decide whether to rely on nuclear power as a long- or short-term energy supply source. If a long-term future for nuclear power is desired, or even if a nuclear option is to be maintained, construction and operation of a fast breeder demonstration plant is needed. The date for the commercialization of the liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) has been postponed from 1986 to about 2020. The reasons given for the delay included concern that plutonium-based nuclear fuels may lead to international nuclear weapons proliferation, projections supporting a diminished need for commercial breeder reactors, projections that LMFBR's would not become economically competitive for several decades, questions about the safety of LMFBR's, and the belief that the Clinch River Breeder Reactor was too small, too costly, and technically obsolete. In fiscal year 1981, the Department of Energy (DOE) is planning to terminate its participation in the gas-cooled fast breeder reactor program while continuing to fund the light water breeder reactor program. But the light water breeder reactor program cannot be viewed as an alternative or backup to LMFBR's because its objective and purpose are different. DOE withdrawal from participation in the technology development program will probably cause the collapse of the industrial infrastructure that has grown in support of the program, and consequently, the only nuclear alternative to the LMFBR program will be lost.

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Energy recovery from wasteEnergy researchEnergy suppliesFacility constructionInternational agreementsLiquid metal fast breeder reactorsNuclear fuel reprocessingNuclear reactorsProgram evaluationUranium