The need for fast breeder reactors

Vol. 15-5

October 1973

The world for many decades to come will have to rely to an ever increasing extent on nuclear energy to meet the demands for primary energy. To meet these requirements we must, however, have a reactor type with lower needs for uranium and also enrichment services, which otherwise may place a limitation on how far nuclear energy can be used.The breeder reactor, with its ability to convert uranium 238 into fissile plutonium, is a solution and would indeed offer a practically inexhaustible source of energy from uranium for centuries to come. The basic reason is that the very much higher utilization of the uranium in a breeder reactor (more than 60 times higher than in a light water reactor) permits the use of uranium of much higher initial price, and the available reserves multiply as a consequence