POWER August 2011 - 70

NUCLEAR powER
The Liquid-Metal Fast Neutron Reactor Has a Long History
In the U.S., several fast neutron reactors
have been designed, and five of them have
achieved operation (Figure 2). There has
also been one U.S. Navy application of a
liquid-metal reactor.
Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 (EBRI,
1949-1964). As part of the National
Reactor Testing Station (now known as
the Idaho National Laboratory), construction
of EBR-I started in late 1949 in the
desert, about 18 miles southeast of Arco,
Idaho. In 1951, it became the world's first
electricity-generating nuclear power plant
when it produced sufficient electricity to
illuminate four 200-watt lightbulbs, and
subsequently generated enough electricity
to power its own building. However, the
actual design purpose of EBR-I was not focused
on electricity production but rather
on validating the breeder reactor concept.
In 1953, experiments revealed the reactor
was producing additional fuel during fission,
as designed. However, on Nov. 29,
1955, EBR-I suffered a partial meltdown
during a coolant flow test. After being repaired,
the EBR-1 continued to operate until
it was deactivated in 1964 and replaced
with the EBR-II. The EBR-I was declared a
National Historic Landmark in 1965.
EBR-II (1963-1994). The EBR-II was a
19-MWe (62.5-MWth) demonstration reactor,
providing heat and power to the Idaho
facility from 1963 through 1994. The EBRII
demonstrated a complete sodium-cooled
breeder reactor power plant with on-site
reprocessing of metallic fuel between 1964
and 1969. The emphasis then shifted to
testing materials and fuels (metal and ceramic
oxides, carbides and nitrides of uranium
and plutonium) for larger fast reactors.
The EBR-II became the basis of the
U.S. Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) program.
The plan was to develop a fully integrated
system with electrometallurgical " pyroprocessing, "
fuel fabrication, and a fast reactor
in the same complex. The reactor could
be operated as a breeder reactor, or not.
About $46 million of IFR funding was provided
by a Japanese utility consortium. The
IFR program goals demonstrated the inherent
safety concepts of the EBR-II apart
from engineered controls in April 1986.
The program was terminated by the Clinton
administration in 1994.
USS Seawolf (1957-1987). USS Seawolf
(SSN-575) was the only U.S. submarine
built with a sodium-cooled nuclear
reactor. The submarine was launched on
July 21, 1955, and commissioned on March
30, 1957. Although the sodium-cooled reactor
reduced the size of machinery spaces
by nearly 40% and was more efficient than
a water-cooled reactor, concerns posed by
the liquid sodium coolant led to the selection
of the pressurized water reactor (PWR)
as the Navy's standard. The USS Seawolf
2. Evolution of the PRISM reactor. Source: GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
EBR-I
Experimental
breeder reactor
Idaho National Lab
December 20,
1952
SEFOR
FFTF
Fast flux test facility
U.S. Department of
Energy 1980
CRBRP
Clinch River Breeder
Reactor Project
1970 Prototype
CRBRP
U.S. commercial liquid
metal reactor concept
Southwest experimental
fast oxide reactor
General Electric 1965
was converted to a PWR and returned to
service in 1960. The submarine was decommissioned
on Mar. 30, 1987, after 30 years
of service.
Fermi 1 (1957-1972). The 94-MWe
prototype, located in Frenchtown Charter
Township, Mich., was first U.S. commercial
fast breeder reactor. Construction started in
1957, but it operated for only three years
before a coolant problem caused overheating
and partial damage to the fuel on Oct.
5, 1966. Following an extended shutdown
that involved fuel replacement, repairs to
the vessel, and cleanup, Fermi 1 was restarted
in 1970 and continued to operate
intermittently until Sept. 22, 1972. Fermi
1's license was not renewed, and it was officially
decommissioned Dec. 31, 1975.
The Southeast Experimental Fast Oxide
Reactor (SEFOR) (1965-1972). The deactivated
20-MWth SEFOR reactor is located
in Cove Creek Township, near Fayetteville,
Ark. The reactor was built in 1965 and
was used to confirm the inherent safety
features of the oxide fuel/sodium-cooling
configuration. The fuel and irradiated sodium
coolant were removed and taken offsite
in 1972, and the facility was placed in safe
storage. The reactor was acquired by the
University of Arkansas in 1975. SEFOR was
designated a Nuclear Historic Landmark
site in October 1986.
Clinch River Breeder Reactor (CRBR)
SIG
Seawolf submarine
Prototype 1955
EBR-II
Experimental breeder reactor II
Idaho National Lab 1964
PRISM
Power Reactor
Innovative Small
Module
General Electric
Project (1970-1983). Congress authorized
the CRBR program in 1970 as a cooperative
effort between industry and the
U.S. government to build a demonstrationscale
sodium-cooled reactor. The plant
was to be located within Tennessee Valley
Authority's system at a site on the Clinch
River just west of Oak Ridge, Tenn. The
CRBR was designed to produce plutonium
from the abundant uranium-238 isotope
(hence the term " breeder " ). The plutonium
would be recovered from the reactor fuel
and then used in water-cooled reactors as
a constituent of a mixed oxide of uranium
and plutonium.
Licensing began in 1973, and the project
environmental impact statement was submitted
on Dec. 31, 1975. The plant design
was reported as 90% complete, and $500
million of reactor components were on order
by Sept. 30, 1981. The Reagan adminis70
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