European Fast Reactor

It is against this evolving background that the European Fast Reactor (EFR) project was launched in 1988. It has now reached an important milestone with the completion of the Concept Validation phase. The twin goals set by the customer utilities at the outset for the design have been demonstrated to be achievable  

The R D support has been extensive and has provided comprehensive validation of the design features necessary to meet these goals. 

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Prevention, detection and mitigation of sodium leaks, improved resistance of nuclear systems to fires and choice of concrete for minimisation of interactions remain important directions for safety research. In France a new aluminous concrete which does not interact with sodium has been proposed. The EFR (European fast reactor) anchored safety vessel option was tested with this concrete. There is a need to continue the R D on sodium-resistant concrete to minimise damage to structures in the event of sodium leaks. 

Lastly those events which are specific to the LMFR technology are again considered from the angle of the concepts retained for the European Fast Reactor (EFR). 

L. Martin et al., "Leak before Break operating experience from European fast reactors". Proceedings of International conference on Fast reactor and related fuel cycles, FR-91,, Kyoto, Japan, Oct 28-Novl,1991. 

Determination of the loads through analysis of the reactor operating parameters combined with thermal hydraulics calculations for the specific thermal stratification and fluctuation areas. For this purpose, the recent R D progress made in the EFR (European Fast Reactor) project was used and transposed to a real installation. 

The status of the CAPRA project, aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of a fast reactor to bum plutonium at as high a rate as possible and the status of the European Fast Reactor are presented as well as their evolution. 

The European Fast Reactor was launched in 1988 and has reached an important stage with the completion of the Concept Validation Phase in 1993. The status of the EFR programme will be presented in 7 as well as its evolution. 

THE EUROPEAN FAST REACTOR PROGRAMME G. HUBERT (EDF), JC. LEFEVRE (FRAMATOME-NOVATOME)... 

The European Fast Reactor (EFR) is the product of the development programme in Europe and embodies the experience from the development and prototype reactors in France, Britain and Germany. EFR has reached the point where prospects can be seen for competitive electricity generation, with a level of safety equivalent to that of up-to-date NPPs, typically represented by the European Utilities Requirement being prepared for future LWRs. 

Activities on LMFR technology have been conducted in France in close cooperation with Western European Countries. Status of technology development in 1994 and future R D are described in this paper. The paper also presents some performance results and gives an overview of the European Fast Reactor, the CAPRA project and knowledge acquisition programmes as well as the Phenix and Superphenix reactors restart and operation experience. 

The Industry, however, recognised that total withdrawal from fast reactor development would not be in line with its longer term strategic interests and has jointly agreed funding to maintain an active but lower level UK participation in the European Fast Reactor Project. UK participation in the EFR project has been maintained under this arrangement since late 1993. 

MARTIN, L., Leak before break operating experience from European fast reactors, Proc. Int. Conf, KyotoVol. 1 (1991) pp. 5.4-1-5.4 -14. 

MARTH, W., The story of the European fast reactor cooperation, KfK 5255, Kemforschugszentrum Kalsruhe GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany (1993). 

Sauvage, M., et al., Overview on European Fast Reactor Operating Experience., Proc. Int. Conf., Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles, Kyoto, Japan, 28 October - 1 November 1, 1991. 

In the past in France, Germany and the UK had their own fast reactor group cross section data libraries and corresponding processing codes [4.16-4.18], and these are still in use for some project studies. As part of the European Fast Reactor Project these national systems... 

In the EUROPEAN FAST REACTOR (EFR) the decay heat is rejected from the primary sodium via a safety graded Direct Reactor Cooling (DRC) System [5.28-5.30] in the case of failure of the normal steam plant (Figs.5.10, 5.11). 

Organizational structure of the European fast reactor cooperation... 

The AGT 8 is concerned with exchanging experience arising from the operation of European fast reactors, namely PHENIX, SUPERPHENIX, PER and KNKII. Analysing and comparing the in-service behaviour of the equipment, and the lessons gained from maintenance or repair works of main components, are particularly valuable. 

NB Historical reminder about the "European fast reactor" project (1984-93)... 

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