Everything about Superph Nix totally explained
Superphénix (
English:
Superphoenix) or
SPX is a
nuclear power station on the
Rhône River at Creys-Malville in
France, close to the border with
Switzerland. A
fast breeder reactor, it halted electricity production in
1996 and was closed as a commercial plant in
1997.
Construction
Design work began in
1968, the same year as construction began for the smaller-scale LMFBR
Phénix, following the abandonment of the graphite-gas designs. The fast breeder design was chosen in the face of fears of disruption to the supply of other fuels; the "
plutonium economy" seemed viable if oil prices stayed high and
uranium supplies dwindled. Construction was approved in
1972 and lasted from
1974 to
1981, but power production didn't begin until
1985. Costs rose rapidly during construction. The plant was run by the consortium
NERSA, 51% owned by
EDF.
There was considerable popular protest during construction; a march by 60,000 protestors in July 1977 was broken up by the
CRS with the death of Vital Michalon and over a hundred serious injuries.
Rocket attack
Against a background of ongoing protest and low-level sabotage, on the night of
January 18 1982 a rocket attack was launched against the unfinished plant by an "eco-pacifist group". Five rockets were launched using a
Russian
rocket launcher. The incomplete
containment building was damaged by two of the rockets, which narrowly missed the reactor's empty
core.
On
May 8 2003,
Chaïm Nissim, who in 1985 was elected to the
Geneva cantonal government for the
Swiss Green Party, admitted carrying out the attack. He claimed that the weapons were obtained from
Carlos the Jackal via the
Belgian terrorist organisation Cellules Communistes Combattantes (Communist Combatant Cells).
Operation
Power output was 1.21
GW, though year to year its availability was from zero to 33%. There was understandable caution with the experimental main reactor design. As time passed, problems developed from another source: the liquid
sodium cooling system suffered from corrosion and leaks.
In September 1990, the plant was closed. Two incidents earlier in the year had culminated in a third, which triggered an automatic shutdown. In December 1990 structural damage occurred following heavy
snowfall. Power production didn't resume until the
Direction de la sûreté des installations nucléaires was approved in 1992.
Closure
Superphénix had been a focus point of many groups opposed to nuclear power, including the green party
Les Verts, since its planning and construction. After the struggle of ecologists against Superphénix, a national network called
Sortir du nucléaire was formed, bringing together hundreds of organisations: local committees, ecological associations, citizen movements and parties.
Power production was halted in December 1996 for maintenance. However, following a court case led by opponents of the reactor, on
February 28,
1997 the
Conseil d'État (Supreme State Administrative Court) ruled that a 1994 decree, authorizing the restart of Superphénix, was invalid. In June 1997, one of the first actions of
Lionel Jospin on becoming
Prime Minister was to announce the closure of the plant "because of its excessive costs". Jospin's government included Green ministers; pro-nuclear critics have argued that Jospin's decision was motivated by political motives (for example, to please his Green political allies) rather than rational considerations. However, the reactor didn't produce electricity most of the time in its last ten years because of malfunctions (in fact it was consuming substantial power to maintain sodium above melting temperature).
Superphénix was the last fast breeder reactor operating in Europe for electricity production. According to a 1996 report by the French Accounting Office (Cour des Comptes), the total expenditure on the reactor to date was estimated at 60 billion
francs (9.1 billion
euro).
The last of the 650 fuel rods were removed from the reactor on
March 18,
2003, and are now stored in cooling ponds.
A
public inquiry was launched in April
2004 to consider plans to set up a plant to incorporate the 5,500 tonnes of sodium coolant in 70,000 tonnes of
concrete. The plan is similar to that used following the closure of the
Dounreay Fast Reactor in the
United Kingdom.
Further Information
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