Isn’t France heavy on breeder reactors? Maybe they CAN’T quit.
We went Uranium, they went Plutonium was what I thought.
France had the Super Phoenix fast reactor it was not commercially viable at the time so it w as mothballed. France continues to be the world leader in reprocessing spent fuel into MOX fuel and surplus PU239 into secure storage for the day when breed reactors make monetary sense. France has two companies moving into the fast reactor space in the new few years.
Gpgple will translate that to English btw.
For the overview
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2023/03/20230312-cea.html
The USA should follow suit post haste. Sodium fast reactors with molten salt storage and also to keep the liquid sodium away from the steam cycle is the secret sauce to making Na cooled reactors cost comparative to natural gas combined cycle which is what sets the LCOE in most of the U.S. Wholesale power market. You have to hit $55 per megawatt hour to be competitive at the baseload price point peaker rates hit ten times that so with molten salt storage you can rapid ramp up to peaker rates it’s genius.