Nuclear Power program (continued)

[Paul William Shafer <paulwilliam_s@YAHOO.COM>]

There is a significant difference between the nuclear

power program in France and the USA.  France is

committed to nuclear power using primarily PWR's of

the Framatome design (very similar to the Westinghouse

design of the late 1960's).  In the late 1960s & early

1970s French scientists and engineers (I had three of

them with me for 2 months) came to the US in large

numbers to determine what design they were going to

use to replace their CO2 cooled graphite moderated

power reactors which were very large in size,

expensive to build and operate(albeit they worked fine

except for graphite expansion and fuel rod integrity

problems and a serious problem with loss of CO2

coolant-Windscale).  They looked at all the different

US designs in operation ranging from Peach Bottom 1

(Demonstation HTGR), Yankee Rowe, LACBWR

(Demonstration Advanced BWR), Pathfinder

(Demonstration Nuclear Superheat BWR), Indian Point 1

to then newly operating Dresden 2.  This was during

the time of the USAEC.  After going back to France,

they obviously decided on the Westinghouse (Framatome)

PWR as their standardized design.  They built Phenix

and Super-Phenix based upon the EBR-2 (and

Rapsodie)pool-type sodium-cooled fast breeder design

with added modifications, while the USA was toying

with the loop-type sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor

project at Clinch River.



France chose to complete the fuel cycle since they

realized they could make a profit from it since the

USA was not going to do it.



Another significant difference is all French nuclear

power plants are owned and operated by l'Electricite

de France (a national utility).   Another significant

difference is that France has CEA (like our old AEC)

which both promotes and regulates nuclear power in

France. They do not have NRC, DOE, EPA, agreement

states and the like trying to govern nuclear power. 

They do not have de-regulated electrical power.



Given the way it is set up in France technically and

politically and the fact that France has much less

natural gas, oil, coal, hydro, wind and solar resource

potential (although they are ahead in tidal power and

have some unique low velocity helical-vortex wind

generators) than the USA it is very easy to see how

they have gone so far with nuclear power.  According

to my friends who live in Moret sur Loing and in

Colmar, Alsace, the cost of electricity in France is

higher than it will be soon in California.  There are

many taxes on electricity in France.



France is now interested in the advanced German PBMR

design (based upon AVR-Julich) for future nuclear

power reactors since they are cheaper to build and

operate and have less nuclear safety concerns.



Paul W. Shafer (AAPT-Physics Teacher 

          former Nuclear Radiation Protection

Engineer--LACBWR/Pathfinder Demonstration Atomic Power

Plants)









************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.