France and Japan sign a new fast reactor development agreeme

On December 3, 2019, Framatome, CEA, JAEA, MFBR and MHI signed a fast neutron reactor development cooperation agreement. Previously, all parties have opened cooperation in Astrid sodium cooled fast reactor project. (origin: the WeChat public No. “China Power Research Society nuclear energy special committee” is compiled from WNA ID:CERS-NEPC). The new agreement aims at further development of fast neutron reactor technology, involving serious accidents, thermal hydraulic and fuel characteristics, data performance and durability verification, sodium detection and appearance monitoring. Compared with the traditional reactor, the fast neutron reactor has a higher utilization power of uranium resources and a higher combustion capacity of actinides. Since the 1950s, the fast reactor has been put into operation in many countries, some of which are used for commercial power generation. Since the 1960s, three fast reactors have been put into operation in France, including the Phoenix reactor operated from 1973 to 2009. In 2006, the French government established CEA to develop the fourth generation fast reactor. In 2009, Astrid project was listed as a priority development project. In August 2019, media reported that CEA had abandoned the 600 MWe Astrid sodium cooled fast reactor project and decided to terminate relevant research work in 2019, and there was no prototype reactor production plan in the short and medium term.