France to construct sodium-cooled fast reactor by 2020

[Platts, 21 December] France will construct a sodium-cooled fast reactor by 2020, the government's Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (Atomic Energy Commission, CEA) announced. A final go-ahead decision will be made in 2012. A gas-cooled fast reactor design will be developed in parallel. These Generation-IV reactormodels are planned for commercial deployment in France and for exportafter 2035-2040. The prototype, possibly built at Marcoule, will beabout 800 MWe and is expected to cost some Eur1.5 billion ($2 billion).The project will be led by the CEA.

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