Superphénix was a nuclear power station prototype on the Rhône river at Creys-Malville in France, close to the border with Switzerland. Superphénix was a 1,242 MWe fast breeder reactor with the twin goals of reprocessing nuclear fuel from France's line of conventional nuclear reactors, while also being an economical generator of power on its own. As of 2024, Superphénix remains the largest breeder reactor ever built.
The Superphenix power plant
A cut-away model of the Superphenix containment. From the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes.
These reactors can be fueled with more-commonly available isotopes of uranium and thorium, such as uranium-238 and thorium-232, as opposed to the rare uranium-235 which is used in conventional reactors. These materials are called fertile materials since they can be bred into fuel by these breeder reactors.
Experimental Breeder Reactor II, which served as the prototype for the Integral Fast Reactor
The graphite core of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment
The Shippingport Reactor, used as a prototype light water breeder for five years beginning in August 1977
The Chinese Experimental Fast Reactor is a 65 MW (thermal), 20 MW (electric), sodium-cooled, pool-type reactor with a 30-year design lifetime and a target burnup of 100 MWd/kg.
