Breeder: now or never. [Increased construction necessary for breeder development]

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1978 · Proc. Am. Power Conf.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5901143

Murphy, P M

The timing of the commercial introduction of the liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) will be an important factor in its ability to supply a significant fraction of the nation's future electrical needs. The number of breeders we can build initially will be limited by the size of our low-cost uranium resources and by the rate at which light water reactors (LWRs) are placed in service. Since this uranium resource is fixed in size while electrical demand will grow geometrically, it is clear that the sooner the breeder is introduced commercially the larger will be the fraction of electrical demand it can supply. An early commercial introduction on an adequate scale requires full-scale resumption of LWR construction and redirection of LMFBR development programs toward a near-term commercial prototype.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA
• OSTI ID: 5901143
• Report Number(s): CONF-780440-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Proc. Am. Power Conf.; (United States) Journal Volume: 40
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500 -- Power Reactors
Breeding
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
ACTINIDES
BREEDER REACTORS
ELECTRIC POWER
ELEMENTS
ENERGY
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EVALUATION
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
METALS
NUCLEAR ENERGY
PLUTONIUM
POWER
REACTORS
RESERVES
RESOURCES
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM RESERVES
WATER COOLED REACTORS