Development of Fast Breeder Reactor Program
Authors: Nemzek T.A. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 1974 Eastern Regional Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14–15, 1974. Permission to copy is restricted an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the paper was presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give credit is made.

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Nuclear power has a key role to play in the U.S. energy strategy. Advanced reactors, or breeders, will be required to assure long-term energy supply. This paper will focus on the technical issues and program development of the Fast Breeder Reactor.

The development of the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor has been given priority in the AEC's broad reactor development program. Its development involves a broad range of disciplines safety, physics, fuels and materials, instrumentation and control fuel cycle, components and systems and coolant technology. Several other breeder concepts are under study by AEC's Division of Reactor Research and Development including the Gas-Cooled-Fast Breeder Reactor, and the Molten Salt Breeder Reactor. Each of these concepts offers distinct advantages and attractiveness for future use in meeting energy requirements.

Fast Breeder development has been underway for over a quarter of a century. Development of a breeder reactor is a large scale undertaking involving the entire nuclear community — the AEC, national laboratories, engineering centers, universities, industrial and utility organizations. The importance of a strong research and development effort to establish the basic technology is examined in our paper. These efforts provide the foundation for confidence by the utilities in the breeder system.

The effects of the world energy problem has spared few nations — causing serious economic, social, and even political difficulties. The general response to the problem has been to examine and accelerate the development of the fullest range of possible energy options - attainable in both the short and long run. While nations face many common aspects of the problem, each has its own distinct set of requirements, resources and relationships which inevitably shape the direction of its national policies and programs.

U.S. energy strategy is directed toward achieving energy self-sufficiency. Among the important implications of this policy are: secondary and tertiary recovery of gas and oil; the development of new gas and petroleum resources; increased use of coal including its conversion to gas and petroleum liquid; increased utilization of nuclear power; petroleum liquid; increased utilization of nuclear power; and the development of new energy technologies.

Nuclear power will be required to provide a large share of total electric energy required in the future both internally and abroad. However, our present nuclear industry, consisting primarily of light water reactors (LWR's), will eventually face serious resource limitation.