Commissioning the SNR-300

The Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands commissioned the Schnell-Brueter-Kernkraftwerksgesellschaft mbH (SBK) to manage, on the basis of industrial principles, the project of the SNR-300 fast breeder power plant at Kalkar on the Lower Rhine river. INB, Internationale Natrium-Brutreaktor-Bau-Gesellschaft mbH, a company founded 1972 by the German Interatom, the Belgian Belgonucleaire, and the Netherlands Neratoom companies, was charged with the overall responsibility for project management and construction management. Construction of the plant was begun in April 1973. Completion originally was scheduled for 1979, but that deadline had to be shifted considerably as a result both of much more stringent criteria imposed on the basis of the licensing procedure and also of fundamental socio-political discussions. The plant has now been completed and the operating permit is expected to be issued for storage of the core elements, for loading and the zero power tests and, finally, for the power tests and for permanent operation. As a consequence of the strong political overtones the project has acquired it is to be feared that these three licensing steps, or at least the last two of them, will be delayed still further. However, the German partners realize that the SNR-300 constitutes an indispensable step in breeder development not only in Germany, but for Europe, and also in cooperation in this field. (orig.)