What's at the forefront of reactor research? A must-read digest/discussion.

[PamW]

17. MSR doesn't have a record

Out of the 10 fast reactors that actually entered commercial service 1 has had a significant fire - not a great safety record.
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MSR really doesn't have a record - the ONLY real reactor was MSRE.

MSRE operated for only 4 years; 1965 to 1969

EBR-II operated for 40 years without incident.

There's so little experience operating MSRs that you can't really say that just because you didn't have an accident in the 4 years that the single reactor operated, that is somehow better than EBR-II operating 10X as long, but then there is Monju.

Who knows what would have happened if the Japanese had built an MSR; they may have figured out a way to have an accident with that one too.

Both MSRs and IFR look to be very safe. However, with the extremely limited experience with MSRs; I don't think anyone can claim superior operational history over LMFBRs.

PamW