Impressive Super Phenix

The 1200-MWe fast breeder reactor, Super Phenix at Creys-Malville, is scheduled for commercial operation in 1983. This is the world's first near-commercial-sized fast breeder. As a near-commercial-sized unit, it represents essentially the technology and hardware of the first fully commercial follow-on units. In its size, its components, its design, the technology it represents, and its project schedule, it is impressive. As of May 1979, the Super Phenix nuclear steam boiler in the Creys-Malville plant bore an estimated cost of $700 million, without fuel. The total cost of the Creys-Malville plant now is estimated at about $1.4 billion. This is about twice the cost of a comparable standardized PWR being built in France today. However, it should be borne in mind that Creys-Malville carries the high cost of a first-of-the-line prototype, and that France's PWRs are standardized, second-generation units. Electricity from Creys-Malville is estimated to cost a little more than electricity would cost from a coal-fired plant complete with flue gas scrubbing