Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant Project info packet

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By Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., 2024-05-26, Reading time: 2 minutes

The information on this page comes from an info packet I found on eBay, ordered, scanned, and posted online. The packet originated around 1977 from the Breeder Reactor Corporation, a now-defunct non-profit company managing the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant (CRBRP) project, a massive US government project aimed at developing the sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor.

Pamphlets

These are fairly basic, though some of them are a bit cringe-worthy at this point. The plutonium one and the waste ones in particular don’t hold up too well. Click on any of the individual ones to load a 600 dpi PDF.

Montage of covers of pamphlets

How does a breeder work? Are breeders safe and good for the environment? Will the breeder affect my electric bill? Is plutonium dangerous? Do we really need the breeder? Are Russia and France ahead in developing breeders? Does my job depend on the breeder? Does nuclear power mean proliferation? Do we know enough about breeders? Is radioactive waste from nuclear power plants a problem?

Documents

Some documents related to the CRBRP. The links are all to 600 dpi scans (sorry if the files are too big)

Cover of document explaining why we need the breeder
Capsule Summary
Image of a letter
Summary for Principals meeting
Image of a letter
Facts and Figures about the CRBRP
Cover of document
The Breeder Reactor - Key to a $20 trillion fuel bonanza
Cover of document
How much radiation will the public receive from the CRBRP
Cover of document
Just the folder that this all came in

Photos

Here are the photos included in the packet.

Field of tanks of depleted uranium
Artists rendition of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant

See Also

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About Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E.

Nick Touran is a nuclear engineer with expertise in advanced nuclear reactor design, reactor development, and the history of nuclear power. After getting a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, he spent 15 years at TerraPower in Seattle working on core design, business development, software development, and configuration management. He is now a consultant involved in advising and assisting numerous reactor development and deployment efforts. He is also a licensed professional engineer in Nuclear Engineering.

Nick has been active in public education around nuclear since 2006 as the founder of whatisnuclear.com. He has spoken at numerous institutions, schools, and public events, and was once featured on NPR’s Science Friday. Recently, he has coordinated the digitization of over 45 historical nuclear films.