Posted on 06/22/2007 10:13:33 AM PDT by Republicain
TOKYO, June 22, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Friday it and France's Areva have jointly bid for a multi-million-dollar research and development project on a US nuclear fuel cycle program.
The United States is set to resume building nuclear power plants after a gap of more than two decades amid growing concern about high oil prices and greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the plan, Japan's top heavy machinery maker will mainly work on fast breeder reactors -- which are in part driven by plutonium fuel -- while Areva will design facilities to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, said Mitsubishi spokesman Hideo Ikuno.
"MHI regards fast breeder reactor technology as one of our major energy projects and we want to expand the business overseas," he said.
"The bid is part of our efforts and in line with Japanese government policies," he said.
Mitsubishi plans to introduce a loop-type fast reactor that uses liquid-metal sodium for the reactor coolant, the company said, adding that several US energy firms will also take part in the Japan-France alliance.
The Japanese and French governments have agreed to support the planned alliance, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported earlier, saying the bid was seen as likely to win.
US President George W. Bush's administration has given the go-ahead for the construction of nuclear power plants which have been frozen since a major accident at Three Mile Island in 1979.
The US Energy Department is seeking initial research plans budgeted at 7.4 billion yen (60 million dollars) for the new project and will select several candidates around August.
Mitsubishi Heavy, which has worked with fast breeder technology since the 1960s, is responsible for developing core parts of domestic reactors, including the Monju reactor in central Fukui prefecture.
It was selected in April as the main builder for Monju's successor, scheduled to start operation in 2025.
Are breeder reactors still on the prohibited list?
lovely-our government stinks.
This is the best news I've heard all month. Ironic that this has been initiated for green-weenie reasons.
And it is too bad that it isn't a U.S. company making the winning bid. Something else we can thank forty years of enviralism for.
It makes sense, why the looney lefties have been blocking Nuclear expansion power in this country, Japan, France, Germany and several other countries have been expanding rapidly in the industry as well as in Nuclear technology.
Funny but the two types of enrgy solutions that best combat global warming, Nuclear and Hydro, are the two technologies that the GW alarmists have tried their hardest to undermine.
GE Boiling Water Reactor and Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor are still in business although they havn’t sold one un the US for over 20 years.
The plutonium can be used for bombs or energy production depending on concentration.
As long as the IAEA can inspect the site, and we/they can account for the material, it’s ok.
My question is, since we’ve dismantled quite a few fission-fusion-fission weapons, why not “burn” that material first?
Our replacement steam generators are being made by Ansaldo...in Italy. As I understand it, there’s no US company capable of making them.
It’s nice to see breeder reactors back on the table again.
I suppose Mitsubishi reactor plants couldn’t be any worse than the ones Allis Chalmers built.
Ouderkirk: “GE Boiling Water Reactor and Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor are still in business although they havn’t sold one un the US for over 20 years.”
Westinghouse is now majority owned by Toshiba. Prior to this year, they were majority owned by BNFL, a government-associated British company. Whether or not this makes them a foreign company is up to debate. The owners are overseas, but the vast majority of employees are all still here is America.
A similar situation exists with AREVA NP, but to a lesser extent. AREVA NP is designing an EPR for construction in America. AREVA NP is owned by AREVA (French) and Siemens (German), but they employ more than 3,000 Americans, and the US version of the EPR is being designed by American engineers.
Westinghouse, GE, and AREVA are still among the leading reactor designers. One is entirely American, one is owned by a Japanese company but almost exclusively American otherwise, and one is heavily invested in America while primarily French. Ironically, despite not building a new reactor in decades, the US is still among the elite nations when it comes to reactor design.
The discussion in the OP is a little different from this, however. The OP article primarily concerns the fuel cycle. America has always used a once-through (or “open”) fuel cycle whereas the French and Japanese use closed fuel cycles where fuel is recycled, so it is not surprising at all that they are the leaders in this field.
Disclaimer: I work for AREVA (the guys designing the US EPR work down the hall from me). While I am an employee, I do not represent them in this post; I am simply speaking as an individual.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.