Trend of development of fast breeder reactors

The development of nuclear power is indispensable as the core of the substitute energy for petroleum. It is the urgent subject for world advanced countries to develop fast breeder reactors which can utilize uranium resources efficiently, to breed nuclear fuel resources, and to secure the stable supply of energy for long term in future. In Japan, the development of fast breeder reactors has been advanced independently and efficiently as a national project mainly by the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. The experimental reactor ''Joyo'' attained the criticality in April, 1977, and has been operated at the thermal output of 75,000 kW. As for the prototype reactor ''Monju'', the application for the permission to install it was submitted in December, 1980, and now, the safety examination is in progress. The present state of the development of fast breeder reactors in USA, Great Britain, France, West Germany, USSR and Japan is explained. In order to advance fast breeder reactors to the stage of full-scale practical use, a number of the reactors of 1 million kW class including the demonstration reactor will be constructed and operated to demonstrate and learn the technology of power generation plants in practical scale, to improve the performance, and to establish the economical efficiency. The schedule of development, the organization and the sharing of roles, the research and development in the demonstration stage are described. (Kako, I.)