Abstract
Nuclear energy production experienced very rapid expansion from the late 1950s to the 1990s, when a phase of stagnation was imposed after the Three-Mile-Island accident in the USA (1979) and especially Chernobyl in the late USSR (1986). In the panel of reactors built, the pressurized water reactor system is the leader, and EDF, the leader utility in France with its 56 operating plants belonging to the PWR concept, is undoubtly the world leader in this field.
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Notes
- 1.
The “steampunk” movement is a media trend (literary, film, TV series, cartoons, etc.) that sets its plots in the nineteenth century, at the time of a dreamed-of industrial revolution, and featuring machinery and robots that make massive use of steam.
- 2.
Jacob Perkins (1766–1849) is an American engineer-inventor to whom we owe a machine for making nails (circa 1790), the principle of metal plates for printing books (including the first book in the United States made from steel plates), bank bills, and, as far as we are concerned, a 1,400 psi (about 96 bars, 1827) horizontal steam engine so powerful that no industrial use was found for it at the time (!), then a 2,000 psi (138 bars) machine. He introduced the concept of upward annular convergent ring in boilers in 1831 to facilitate natural convection and the use of compressors to produce cold. He was responsible for the printing plates for the world’s first stamp in May 1840 (the famous British “Penny Black”, 9 years before the first French stamp), printed on a “Perkins D Cylinder” press patented by him in 1819. This press allowed the rapid printing of 240 stamps per plate. The last copy of this press has been in the British Library since 1963.
Jacob Perkins.
- 3.
D.A. Reay: The Perkins tube, a noteworthy contribution to heat exchanger technology, Journal of Heat Recovery Systems, Vol. 2, n°2 pp. 173–187 (1982).
- 4.
Marc Seguin, Director of the railway from Saint-Etienne to Lyon (the second line built in France), he imagined in 1827 (patent of December 13, 1827) a tubular boiler that he had mounted on locomotives of his own construction. Seguin was already a correspondent of the Academy of Sciences since 1845 for his specialization in metal bridges. His name is engraved on the Eiffel Tower among other scientists.
Marc Seguin.
- 5.
Alvin Weinberg (1915–2006): American physicist. After studies at the University of Chicago, he defended a thesis in 1939 on Applied Mathematics in Biophysics entitled “Mathematical Foundations for a Theory of Biophysical Periodicity”. He joined the Manhattan Project in September 1941. He replaced Eugen Wigner in 1948 as head of research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which he took over in 1955. He co-wrote with Wigner the famous book The Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors in 1958, which is a world-famous reference book. He took part in many projects on nuclear propulsion for aircraft and advanced reactors. During his career, he was rewarded by numerous prizes including the Fermi medal in 1980. He was the driving force behind Admiral Rickover’s choice of pressurized water reactors for naval propulsion.
Alvin Weinberg (left) gives President John Fitzgerald Kennedy a tour of the Oak Ridge laboratories in 1959. (Photo Oak Ridge).
- 6.
Alvin M. Weinberg: The light water adventure, Nuclear Engineering international, pp. 28–30, October 1994.
- 7.
Herbert Pomerance (1917–1992): This American physicist worked in the Chicago Met Lab for the Manhattan Project. Pomerance was transferred to Clinton Laboratories in Tennessee on September 1, 1943, where he married Eleanor Catherine Hauk, an onsite technician. Pomerance worked on the X-10 graphite reactor project, where he performed oscillation tests on materials in the reactor to measure their effective cross-section, hence his discovery of zirconium impurities.
Herbert Pomerance cleans the oscillation system in Oak Ridge.
- 8.
Walter Zinn (1906–2000) is a Canadian-born American engineer and physicist who made a major contribution to the U.S. nuclear program. After studying physics at Columbia University, he defended a thesis in 1934 on X-radiation: two-crystal study of the structure and width of K X-ray absorption limits. He became an American citizen in 1938, then Zinn worked on the chain reaction for Enrico Fermi in the Manhattan Project. After the war, it was a team led by Zinn that worked on the divergence of the sodium fast reactor EBR-I then EBR-2 “Enrico Fermi” at Argonne, Idaho, of which he was director from 1946 to 1956. Zinn was awarded the Enrico Fermi medal in 1969. He was also the first president of the American Nuclear Society.
Enrico Fermi (left) and Walter Zinn (right), who have been working together for a long time.
- 9.
Hyman George Rickover (1900–1986). 4-star admiral of the U.S. Navy. Originally from a Polish Jewish family, he immigrated to the USA in 1905. He joined the US Navy at a very young age (19 years old) where he studied electrical engineering. In 1929, he turned to the submarine weapon where his career progress was faster. In 1946, he was sent to Oak Ridge to study the possibilities of producing electricity using a nuclear reactor. In 1949 he was appointed head of the Naval Reactor Branch of the Navy, as well as an important position in the Reactor Development Division of the Atomic Energy Commission. This dual position enabled him to develop his ideas on naval propulsion. Vice-admiral in 1958, he was nicknamed “the father of the nuclear fleet”, and rightly so. His rigorous safety culture would lead to a zero-defect religion in the US Navy. In fact, no naval reactor accident was to be deplored in the United States, unlike in the Soviet Union, where a great many known and unknown accidents have occurred. With a career of 63 years, he is the Navy officer with the longest military career.
- 10.
Philip Hauge Abelson (1913–2004). After studying chemistry at Washington State University, he defended a thesis in nuclear physics at Berkeley. He worked there with Ernest Lawrence, then co-discovered neptunium with Edwin McMillan on June 8, 1940. He was responsible for the principle of isotopic enrichment of uranium by thermal column, a project he developed for the US Navy. This work was to serve the Manhattan Project. After the war, he participated in the Philadelphia Naval Research Laboratory in the development of naval propulsion. He directed the Geophysics Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute from 1951 to 1971. He has written several books on the use of energy. He was awarded the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1987.
- 11.
Ross Gunn (1897–1966). American physicist. After working on the Manhattan Project, he devoted himself to the Navy’s nuclear propulsion program. He held the positions of Professor of Physics at the American University, Head of the Electrical and Mechanical Division, Director of the Research Division of the National Weather Service, Advisor to the Naval Administration, and other positions. A member of the American Academy of Sciences, he has filed more than 45 patents during his lifetime.
- 12.
On the properties of hafnium: [Elinson et Petrov, 1969].
- 13.
Zalman Shapiro (1920–2016). American chemical engineer. After a thesis at Johns Hopkins University in 1948, he joined the Westinghouse research teams at the Bettis Naval Nuclear Power Laboratory where he became a specialist in zirconium chemistry. He developed the process for purifying zirconium by iodide vapor deposition, and was one of the artisans of the first American atomic submarine reactor: the USS Nautilus. He then worked on the production of fuel cladding for the Shippingport reactor. He developed the method of continuous fabrication of uranium oxide powder, then plutonium, used to produce high-density sintered fuel pellets. At the age of 89, he filed a patent on the mass production of synthetic diamond of industrial quality. In 1957, he created the company NUMEC specialized in nuclear materials, then returned to Westinghouse in 1971. At the end of the 1960s, he was at the center of a controversy over the possibility that he had been able to steal uranium (nearly 300 kg!) for the benefit of Israel, because of his proven Zionist sympathies, without being himself worried, since no decisive proof was ever provided. His name remains associated with Shapiro’s diagram concerning the flammability of a mixture of hydrogen and steam.
Photo Droke-Post gazette.
- 14.
Harry F. Raab (1927–2008). This American engineer and physicist obtained a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree at MIT in 1950 and 1951. He worked for 44 years at Westinghouse at Bettis Laboratory, first on the Nautilus, then on the design of the reactors for the aircraft carrier Enterprise, and on the concept of a light water breeder reactor (Shippingport) for which he was project manager. Finally, from 1972 he worked in the field of naval nuclear propulsion at Crystal City (Westinghouse). He retired in 1995.
Henry Raab in 1972.
- 15.
In his famous 1869 novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea”, the French writer Jules Verne (1828–1905) introduced a 70 m long submarine called Nautilus, which was very ahead of its time because it was powered by electric power. When Professor Aronnax asked Captain Nemo about the perfection of his Nautilus, Nemo remarked prophetically: “In fact, answered the captain with a smile, in this respect, the moderns are no more advanced than the ancients. It took many centuries to find the mechanical power of steam! Who knows if in a hundred years we will see a second Nautilus! Progress is slow, Mr. Aronnax». Could Jules Verne have ever dreamt about the fission of the atom?
From left to right: Jules Verne, the Hetzel first edition of the book and an interior illustration where the Nautilus surfaces…at the South Pole!.
- 16.
Vladimir Peregoudov (1902–1967). After his studies, he joined the Soviet Navy as a sailor in 1921, which sent him to Petrograd for higher studies. In 1922, he entered the Naval Engineering School (later Dzerzhinka). He graduated in 1926, and worked on the first Soviet Baltic submarines. Worried in 1938 by the Stalinist purges, he worked on the submarines during the war (project 608 and 613). In 1952, he became deputy director of what was to become the Krylov Institute, where he worked on the development of nuclear submarines. The construction of the first K-3 began on September 24, 1954. He died in 1967 one week after the K-3 accident (adapted from www.globalsecurityorg/military/world/russia).
Vladimir Peregoudov.
- 17.
Nikolaï Antonovich Dollejal (1899–2000) Russian physicist. Member of the soviet academy of sciences.
Nikolaï Dollejal.
- 18.
NII of the construction of machinery for the chemical industry.
- 19.
Jean Dessoly: Premier SNA russe: le Nautilus … à la sauce soviétique, Sub-marine n°18, Avril 2018, pp. 49–55.
- 20.
On 3 July 1961, the submarine K-19 was diving during the Polyarni Krug exercise in the Barents Sea when a leak in the primary circuit (LOCA) of the starboard reactor (K-19 has two 70 MW VM-A reactors feeding two turbines) caused fears of a reactor meltdown due to the residual power. The relative pressure of the water in the reactor fell to zero and caused a shutdown of the primary circuit (cavitation?). A separate accident deactivated the long-range radio system and the submarine could not warn Moscow of the damage. Although the control rods were lowered automatically by shutdown, the temperature of the reactor continued to rise uncontrollably, reaching 800 °C. No emergency water supply system having been foreseen at the time of the design of the reactor (exclusion of a LOCA large break to the design!), the commander Zateïev orders his sailors to manufacture a new cooling system by diverting via the ventilation circuit a part of the fresh water stored on board, which makes it possible to cool the reactor. A team of welders took turns in the partially submerged boiler compartment to line a new water supply duct while being exposed to high radiation. The primary circuit failure results in a large release of contaminated and highly irradiating waste, contamination that spreads throughout the ship through the ventilation system. It was said that the cause of the rupture was due to a pressure test of the primary circuit at the reception of the primary circuit. During this test, the pressure was increased to 400 bars (twice the permissible design pressure of the primary circuit) because of the omission of an operational pressure measurement system. The incident was hidden or glossed over so as not to hinder the progress of the project or for fear of possible sanctions. In any case, no measurements, even non-destructive ones, were taken to verify the correctness of the primary circuit and the real effect of this overpressure. The Russian government later declared that it had been found evidence of a defective weld (?). The accident of 3 July caused at least 8 deaths by severe irradiation in the following two weeks and others later. The submarine, though nicknamed “Hiroshima”, was later rehabilitated and the reactor compartment was cut up and exchanged. The American film K-19 of Kathryn Bigelow (2002), starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, recounts these dramatic events and gives the good behavior to the ship’s commander.
- 21.
Alex Kovalsky: Projet 955A Boreï-A: Le renouveau des SNLE russes, in DEFENSE EXPERT n°5 pp 82–89, mai-juin 2021.
- 22.
In 1959, the American Admiral Hyman Rickover came to visit the Admiralteyski plant to get an idea of the Russian advance in the field of civil nuclear propulsion. He was not scheduled to visit the icebreaker’s nuclear facility, but was so insistent that he obtained permission. His visit lasts two hours and after analysis, he warned the Russians that they would have problems with the turbo-alternators, which will prove to be true. Back in the USA during a speech to the Senate, he stated that the Americans were much more advanced in the field of naval propulsion and that work on the nuclear ship Savannah, which was to be launched on 21 July 1959, should be speeded up.
- 23.
Anatoli Pretrovich Alexandrov (1903–1994) is a Russian nuclear physicist, who headed the famous Kurchatov Institute after his death. Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Anatoli Alexandrov.
- 24.
Igor Ivanovich Afrikantov (1916–1969) is a Russian engineer responsible for the construction of the Lenin reactors. Studied engineering at the Gorky Polytechnic Institute from 1934 to 1938.
Igor Afrikantov.
- 25.
244th hull put into service by the Cherbourg Arsenal.
- 26.
André Gempp (1920–2005). After graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique (class of 1939), he embarked on a military career by choosing the Maritime Engineering Corps. He was then assigned to Toulon (the main military harbor with Brest) for submarine maintenance. At the time, the submarine force was made up of old French submarines and German submarines requisitioned for war damage. He improved Professor Piccard’s Bathyscaphe concept allowing diving to 4,000 m. After the failure of the Q244 project, he was the prime contractor architect of the submarine “Le Redoutable” with a similar role for France (all things considered) to that of Admiral Rickover in the USA. Commander of the Légion d’Honneur, he spent his entire career in the service of naval construction.
Photo: Marine Nationale.
- 27.
Charles Fribourg: La propulsion nucléaire navale, Revue Générale Nucléaire n°2, 1999, pp. 32–49. Charles Fribourg has long given a course at the Génie Atomique (a major French Engineer School) on the design of pressurized water reactors for naval propulsion.
- 28.
CEA, Annual report 1975, comments from Jean Teillac, p. 9.
- 29.
Jacques Etienne Chevalier (1921–2009). After graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1940 and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure du génie Maritime, he became head of the Nuclear Construction Department (1959–1968) and Director of the Military Applications Directorate (DAM) of the CEA (1972–1986). He is the main designer of the PAT and its variants (CAP, etc.).
Jacques Chevalier.
- 30.
CEA, Annual report 1979, p. 42.
- 31.
Admiral Rickover thought that the French would be incapable of developing a nuclear boiler from this fuel, hence the agreement of the Americans to deliver enriched uranium!.
- 32.
Navires et Histoire Hors-série n°24: Le Redoutable, premier sous-marin nucléaire Français/Le Redoutable, French first nuclear submarine, mai 2015.
- 33.
CEA, Annual report 1975, p32.
- 34.
J. Baujat: La propulsion nucléaire en France, Nuclear Energy Maturity, Proceedings of the European Nuclear Conference, Paris, 21–15 April 1975, Invited sessions, Pergamon Press, 1975, pp. 83–86.
- 35.
Cols bleus, Hors-série, janvier 2019, Marine Nationale 2019, Information package.
- 36.
1 pcm = 10–5.
- 37.
Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970). Colonel then general in the armored army, he took part in the first battles of the Second World War, then refused defeat by going into exile in England. He harangued the French people with his appeal of June 18, 1940 “France has lost a battle, but she has not lost the War”. He created the Free France, which participated in the fighting until victory. He briefly became Head of Government in 1946, then returned to power from 1958 to 1969 as the first President of the Fifth Republic. He promoted France’s participation in the UN’s Permanent Security Council and had the atomic weapon and the air and naval deterrent forces developed.
The general Charles de Gaule.
- 38.
Richard G. Hewlett, Jack M. Holl: A history of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, 1952–1960, note DOE/NBM—7,010,972, DE87 010,972.
- 39.
- 40.
A Belleville spring comes in the form of a perforated washer with a curved profile. Pressure on the convex part of the washer causes the spring to react in the opposite direction. Several washers can be mounted in series or parallel (see diagram on the right) depending on the desired reaction force. Such a spring prevents two parts from having a too strong mechanical connection (e.g. thermal expansion problems).
- 41.
To limit the parasitic neutron capture of hydrogen inside light water.
- 42.
H.T. Evanc: Structural features of the waste disposal system for the Shippingport atomic power station, Shippingport, Pennsylvania, paper n° 57-NESC-18, 2nd nuclear Engineering and Science Conference, March 11–14, 1957, Philadelphia, published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
- 43.
Charles Melvin Price (1905–1988): Member of the American Congress from 1945 to 1988.
Charles Melvin Price.
- 44.
Clinton Presba Anderson (1895–1975): Senator of New Mexico from 1949 to 1973, has participated in numerous commissions including the Joint Committee on atomic energy, but also in another subject the Joint Committee on Navajo-Hopi Indians.
Clinton Anderson (left).
- 45.
It is not a heat insulation as its name might suggest.
- 46.
Samuel Davis Sturgis, 3rd name (1897–1964). Born into a line of general officers, he entered the Military Academy in 1918 where he graduated as an officer-engineer. He served in the Philippines in 1926, and then various military engineering posts in the USA. After rising through the ranks, he became Chief of Engineers with the rank of Lieutenant-General from 1953 to 1956. In this position, he supervised the nuclear technical aspects for the US Army.
Samuel Sturgis.
- 47.
Bernard Turovlin, Martin R. Hum: Core inspection program and maintenance on reactor internals at the MH-1A, Transactions of the first conference of the European Nuclear Society “Nuclear energy maturity”, April 21–25, 1975, Volume 20 TANSAO 20 1–820, 1975, pp. 174–176.
- 48.
Vincent Massaut: R&D et D&D: un mariage impossible ? Le REX BR3 en Belgique. RGN n°5 pp. 87–95, Septembre-Octobre 2014.
- 49.
F. Basile, G. Buionaugurio, M. Claps and al: Research program integrative of the Enel program on the Trino Vercellese reactor, final report, Report FIAT/Divisione Mare/Sezione Energia Nucleare FN-E-122, Décembre 1972.
- 50.
When the rods drop, the temperature of the core and the water (and therefore the density) becomes more homogeneous as the core passes at zero power, resulting in an increase in neutron flux in the upper part where there are fewer absorbing fission products. This effect increases the reactivity of the most reactive zones and finally brings reactivity at the end of the cycle: this is called the axial redistribution effect of the flux.
- 51.
The “aeroball” system consists of pneumatically inserting metal balls into an empty tube placed in the core. These balls are activated under neutron flux, which are then extracted to measure the induced activity, from which, by reassembly, the neutron flux can be determined. This system, modernized, is implemented in the EPR.
- 52.
H. Bonnet, A. Charlier, A. Renard, Cl. Vandenberg: PWR de 900 MWe chargé au Pu type Tihange, Etudes de l’état stationnaire et analyse d’accidents, description de la centrale et méthode, report BelgoNucléaire BN 7711–02 in the framework of the contract CCE n°013–76-11 RPUB, 1977.
- 53.
[George and Board, 1987] B.V. George, J.A. Board: The Sizewell B design, Nuclear Energy, Volume 26, n°3, pp. 133–148, 1987.
- 54.
S.M. Connoly, and al: Sizewell B fuel management strategy looking to the future, Nuclear Energy Vol.. 36 n° 5, pp. 345–349 (1997).
- 55.
Igor Vassilievich (1903–1960) is the father of the Soviet atomic bomb. After studying physics at the University of Crimea and shipbuilding at the University of Petrograd, he entered in 1925 the Physical-Technical Institute where he worked on radioactivity under the direction of Abraham Ioffé. During the war, he developed a system of demagnetization of ship hulls that proved to be effective, then worked on the Soviet atomic bomb following scientific leaks from the United States (Klaus Fuchs, the Rosenberg husband and wife …). The bomb was developed at Laboratory No. 2, which later becomes the Kurchatov Institute. This plutonium bomb exploded on August 29, 1949. He wore a large beard because of a vow not to cut his beard until the bomb was working. At the end of his life, he worked on civilian applications of the atom on the WWER type.
Igor.
- 56.
Iouli Borissovich Khariton (1904–1996) Russian physicist, chief designer of the Soviet atomic bomb program.
Iouli Khariton.
- 57.
G.L. Dunin, V.A. Sidorenko et al.: Start-up and adjustment of reactor WWPR of Novo-Voronezh atomic Power Station, Third United Nations International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Power, 10 pages, May 1964.
- 58.
B.A. Kanashov, V.S. Poelenol, A.V. Smirnov, V.A. Zhitelev: Data base and post-irradiation examination results of spent WWER-1000 fuel elements and assemblies; Fuel management and handling, Proceedings of the international conference organized by the British Nuclear Energy Society and held in Edinburgh on 20–22 March 1995. ISBN 0–7277-2033–3, 1995, pp. 309–334.
- 59.
Around 20% less than UNGG.
- 60.
It is clear that Cabanius does not want to come on the field of exacerbated patriotism.
- 61.
Paul Delouvrier (1914–1985) was a French senior civil servant. After studying political science, he passed the competitive examination for the General Inspectorate of Finance, from which he graduated as a major. He held various important positions during the Fourth and Fifth Republics. He was appointed President of EDF between 1969 and 1979, where he promoted the PWR system like never before.
Paul Delouvrier at his desk as President of EDF.
- 62.
Georges Dietsch. Deputy director of the Schneider-Westinghouse electrical equipment factory in Lyon (formerly Ateliers de Lyon et du Dauphiné Grammont created in 1905, future Jeumont-Schneider) in 1946. We owe him the intuition to have bet on the PWR license of Westinghouse. Jean-Claude Leny, the last director of Framatome before its conversion to the AREVA group, would later say: “Framatome was born from an intuition and an industrial gamble: to license in 1959 a process that only existed at the stage of a modest prototype extrapolated from the engines of American nuclear submarines was a typically industrial act, one that consisted of adopting a position without any certainty of success”. The first team was four engineers: one for boiler-making from SFAC, one for engineering and installation from SPIE, one for mechanical engineering with Jeumont and one for electrical engineering from S.W. Their first joint project will involve the Selni plant in Trino Vercellese, Italy. In May 1959, Framatome responded to the call for tenders for Chooz-A, which was won.
Georges Dietsch.
- 63.
Claude Bienvenu interviewed in Forum (the EDF/Septen newspaper) n°21, December 1988. Claude Bienvenu (born in 1927) forms, with Jean-Pierre Roux who recruited him at the Equipment division, the first team of nuclear engineers at EDF. After his studies at Polytechnique and then Sup’Aéro, he first joined EDF’s Research and Studies Department in 1951. Head of the Research Department (1955) and Deputy Director (1960) of the Nuclear Thermal Equipment Region No. 1, Deputy Director (1962) then Director (1963) of the Nuclear Equipment Region No. 2, Head of the Thermal and Nuclear Studies and Projects Department (1968), Deputy Director (1972) then Director (1982) of the Research and Developments Divisioon, Inspector General of Electricité de France (1987–92). Knight of the French Legion of Honor, Commander of the National Order of Merit. Water Arbitration Prize (1962) from the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Prix du Crédit Lyonnais from the French Academy of Sciences (1966). He was responsible for the first structured report by EDF (see below) on the question of heat production and extraction in nuclear reactors at an internal conference on March 16, 1955, which was to determine EDF’s involvement in the UNGG reactor type.
Claude Bienvenu.
An extremely rare copy of the first report of March 16, 1955, the founding document of nuclear energy at EDF.
- 64.
Concerning Fessenheim, the Inter-ministerial Council of November 1969 had already authorized EDF to start two plants, either of the PWR or BWR reactor type. EDF had therefore launched a consultation with Framatome for PWRs, and CGE for BWRs. As CGE’s offer was 56% higher, EDF accepted the proposal of Framatome, in partnership with Alsthom for the turbine generator group for the first plant. However, the decision for the second plant was put back on the balance sheet, with an EDF board of directors meeting in September 1970 considering the two techniques equivalent in terms of safety. In fact, a preliminary boiling water project was studied by EDF/SEPTEN in 1970, and the IPSN drew up a safety report on a 1,000 MWe BWR plant. The CGE offer will be seriously studied until 1973, which sees the last studies on the subject. In 1975, when CGE was unable to set up a satisfactory industrial organization, its president, Antoine Roux, gave up the game, saying, “CGE would rather make money by making white goods than lose money by going nuclear!». Starting in 1974, work began on the Westinghouse’s 4-loop concept. It was the P4 project that led to a firm commitment in 1976 (Adapted from the article Du thermique classique au nucléaire, by Bernard Salles and Margaux Sauzet, Forum n°21, December 1988).
- 65.
Jean-Pierre Roux (1918–2014). After graduating from the Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité in 1940 and obtaining a PhD, he then worked as an engineer in the Nord-Lumière company, then joined EDF when it was created (1946) in the Equipment Division. He became Director of the Nuclear Equipment Sub-Region, EDF’s first nuclear unit, in 1955. He became head of the Thermal Generation Department from 1972 to 1977. He ended his career as Honorary Director of EDF and chaired the ESE. Officer of the French Legion of Honor and Commander of the National Order of Merit.
- 66.
Whose main characteristics are recalled in A. Marchal: Expérience d’exploitation de la Centrale nucléaire des Ardennes, Experience from operating and fueling nuclear power plants, proceedings of a symposium, Vienna, 8–12 October 1973, IAEA, Vienna, 1974, STI/PUB/351, pp. 243–258.
- 67.
Raymond Ruelle, Bernard Desmarets, Vincent Delcroix: L’état de la déconstruction de la première centrale REP construite en France (Chooz A), Revue Générale Nucléaire n° 6, Novembre 1999, pp. 10–15.
- 68.
Data issued from cycle 15 by way of example.
- 69.
On the theoretical aspects of vibration caused by fluids, read [Gibert, 1988].
- 70.
A. Marchal: Expérience d’exploitation de la centrale nucléaire des Ardennes, IAEA/SM-178/11, Experience from operating and fueling of nuclear power plants, Symposium du 8–12 October 1973, Vienna, Austria.
- 71.
R.G. Hobson, R.B. Cambien: Nuclear component reliability and performance in Westinghouse PWR’s, IAEA/SM-178/24, Experience from operating and fueling of nuclear power plants, Symposium du 8–12 October 1973, Vienna, Austria.
- 72.
C. Berriaud, M. Livolant, R. Assedo, C. Cauquelin, M. Dubourg: The SAFRAN test loop model experimentation and analysis of flow induced vibration of PWR reactor internals, 2nd International Conference on Structural Mechanics In reactor Technology (SMIRT), Berlin, 10–14 September 1973, Volume 2, Part E–F, E5/2.
- 73.
Pretending to anyone who wanted to hear it: “I made Chooz-A, I left my shirt there!». The CGE replied that it prefers”To make money with white goods rather than lose money with nuclear power!». The two BWR plants ordered by EDF in February 1974 were finally cancelled. On March 14, 1974, EDF placed the largest order for nuclear steam supply systems to date, the Contrat Programme 1 (CP1), which provided for 18 plants, betting that Framatome allied with Creusot-Loire would succeed in converting them into a large national group. CGE then focused on turbine manufacturing, and France would never build a BWR.
- 74.
Jean Claude Leny, Boris Saïtcevsky: La filière à eau légère, ses caractéristiques générales, Congrès de Vittel, 11–15 septembre 1973.
- 75.
Jean Claude Leny: Evolution dans les domaines de la conception et de la construction, Bulletin d’information de l’Association Technique pour l’Energie Nucléaire n°102, numéro spécial du 5ème congrès de Foratom, Florence, 15–17 octobre 1973, 1973, pp. 33–53.
- 76.
Switching sensor have only two positions: yes or no.
- 77.
The largest part of the steam expansion is provided by a single flow, which results in a gain in efficiency and greater compactness. The superheater-dryer, located between the high and low-pressure bodies, has an intermediate heating stage, which is more efficient in terms of thermodynamic cycle.
- 78.
Jean-Marc Miraucourt: La génèse du palier N4, Revue Générale Nucléaire n°1, Janvier 2004, pp. 16–23.
- 79.
From the study of B. Haijtink: Plutonium production and utilization forecasts in Europe, CCE/Directorate general for industrial, III/1162/75-E, 5 December 1975.
- 80.
Matthieu Israël will be the head of the Reactor Physics Department of EDF’s Direction de Etudes et Recherches until 1986. Projet de programme proposé par EDF pour le recyclage du plutonium, note HF-10/3/74, EDF/SGETN, 10 janvier 1974.
- 81.
The ancestor of the Euro at the time.
- 82.
M. Darrouzet, G. Granger, L. Martin-Deidier, A. Santamarina: Mesures de distributions de puissance et d’effets en réactivité dans les configurations UO2 et UO2-PuO2 réalisées dans MINERVE, Rapport Final, Communication catégorie 2.1 n°3792, Commission de Communautés Européennes, 1980.
- 83.
Philippe Bioux, Michel Soldevila: Paramètres cinétiques dans les cœurs à chargement mixte, NOTE EDF HT/11–50–78.
- 84.
J.W. Stather (Harwell), J.C. Nenot (CEA): Toxicité du plutonium, de l’américium et du curium, Editions Technique et Documentation (publié pour la Commission des Communautés européennes), ISBN 2–85,206-037-X, 1978.
- 85.
Michel Rome, Massimo Salvatores, Michel Le Bars: Plutonium reload experience in French pressurized water reactors, Nuclear Technology Volume 94, n°1, pp. 87–98, April 1991.
- 86.
Without going too specifically into the details that are beyond the scope of this book, let us briefly describe the history of the MIMAS process. Until 1968, the plutonium was diluted in the fuel as a whole. The process includes a step of mixing and granulation, then pressing and sintering. Between 1968 and 1974, refined PuO2 powder is mixed with UO2 granules. Manufacturing is thus simplified into a single powder step. Between 1974 and 1984, the UO2 granules were replaced by ex-AUC (Ammonium Uranyl Carbonate) “free-flowing” UO2 powder. PuO2 agglomerates do not exceed 400 μm at this stage. After 1984 and to reduce the size of the plutonium clusters, PuO2 powder was micronized with UO2 powder to produce a first primary circuit mixture of 20 to 30% plutonium, then this primary mixture was re-diluted with fine UO2 powder to reach the desired content. The result is a more homogeneous powder characterized by the English word “blend” (also used in the whisky industry to describe an alcohol “assembly”). On the MIMAS process and the manufacture of MOX, it is useful to consult.
Didier Haas, Alain Vandergheynst, Jean Van Vleit, Robert Lorenzelli, Jean-Jouis Nigon: Mixed-oxide fuel fabrication technology and experience at the Belgonucléaire and CFCa plants and further developments for the Melox plant, Nuclear Technology Volume 106 n°1, pp. 60–81, April 1994.
- 87.
Using a reference plutonium (also called plutonium from the Generic Safety Dossier): Pu238: 1.83%, Pu239: 57.93%, Pu240: 22.50%, Pu241: 11.06%, Pu242: 5.60%, Am241: 1.08%.
- 88.
D. Chevalier, P. Demaraix: Etude de faisabilité d’une installation de réaménagement d’assemblages au plutonium dans le concept MONOMOX, note BelgoNucléaire n° 03,534/230 PD/MHL, mars 1989, in the frameword of a contract EDF/R&D.
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Jean-Paul Millot: The Convertible Spectral Shift Reactor, PHYSOR 90, Conférence Internationale sur la Physique des Réacteurs pour la Conception, la Modélisation et l’Exploitation, 23–27 Avril 1990, Proceedings Volume 1, pp. 1–33.
- 90.
In the concept of “leak before break”, it is assumed that a sudden rupture of a large primary circuit pipe or large water and steam line break will be detected by an initial leak, allowing the plant to be shut down and returned to a safe state. The design basis accident then becomes the rupture of a primary circuit tap, and no longer the large LOCA breach. This criterion is not accepted today for the entire primary circuit, insofar as the concept clearly evacuates the problem of sudden rupture, which is difficult to admit without monitoring of the component concerned. Concerning the safety circuits, it should be allowed to evacuate all breaches greater than 3 inches to obtain dimensioning gains due to a reduction in injection capacity, which is very unacceptable.
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Marguet, S. (2022). History of the Pressurized Water Reactor. In: The Technology of Pressurized Water Reactors. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86638-9_1
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