Western Europe's nuclear power industries have made major strides during 1968. The erosion of Euratom as an effective instrument for shaping European nuclear energy policies has led on the one hand to increased national attention to nuclear power technology, and on the other to a quest for new means of international cooperation. Expansion of capacity goes on apace. Though most of the current expansion is based on first generation reactor technology, the cooperative ventures now getting underway plan to use new technology and they could prove to be of considerable economic interest.
Europe got off to an early start in nuclear power. At the end of 1968, Western Europe had 62 percent of the world total of 11,200 megawatts capacity of installed nuclear power capacity. This edge will be lost as plants now under construction are completed, for the United States accounts for two-thirds and Europe for only 21 percent of the 45,000 MWe now a building. Within Europe, Great Britain has taken a strong lead, with 60 percent of the hailed plant and 40 percent of that underway. The Euratom counties (identical with the Common Market) account for most of the reminder.
One reason for the British lead installed capacity was their decision to go into commercial production based on an early design. Since then their development program has continued to progress in several directions. A prototype of a heavy water reactor was put in operation in February 1968. It is hoped that this will prove competitive at sizes below 500 MWe and therefore be suitable for export to countries unable to use the giant reactors common in the United States and some European countries. An advanced gas reactor of larger size is to be installed in several plants now under construction in Britain. On the horizon is the high-temperature gas re-actor (HTGR) which the British and others have been developing; it is claimed that industrial application is now possible for this type. Meanwhile, the British pursue their breeder reactor program. A 250-MWe sodium-cooled prototype of the breeder is expected to be ready by 1971, well in advance of other western countries.
The Germans are working on both a heavy water reactor and their own version of the high-temperature gas reactor. West Germany is the only European country that has sold a reactor outside Europe in the past decade—for a 300-MWe heavy water plant to be built in Argentina. On the developmental front the Germans are moving ahead with breeder reactors and fuel enrichment technology. In addition, they have not neglected light water technology and are developing a manufacturing capability for further extensions in this field.
Elsewhere, the most interesting news is the commercial success of the light water reactors which are to be installed in most of the plants now under way. Despite experiments with alternative technology, most of the plants being built in Sweden, Germany, and other western countries are of this type. Even the French, who have an ambitious nuclear program, are considering the light water reactors, despite the accompanying dependency on the United States for enriched fuel at least for the intermediate term.
The general loss of momentum in European integration through the Common Market institutions has affected Euratom as well. However, the imperatives of technical developments in the industry have compelled the countries to seek other channels of cooperation. Firms from Britain and Germany, which have been experimenting with HTGR's of advanced design, have joined with firms from Belgium and Italy to found the Inter-Nuclear Company to develop and market such a reactor. According to industry reports, they are prepared to offer a 600-700-MWe HTGR station for sale on a global basis at an estimated cost of $170-$180 per kw of capacity. Under favorable conditions of financing, a capital cost in this range implies electricity costs of about 4.6 mills per kwh. Meanwhile, British and German development of this type of reaction progresses.
The other principal area of cooperation concerns European facilities for producing enriched uranium. The scale, cost, and technology of the standard gaseous diffusion enrichment process are a heavy burden for European countries to take on. Enriched uranium fuel is required for use in light water reactors, and one reason Europeans resisted this technology initially was because they were reluctant to become dependent on the United States for fuels. However, there appears to be no escaping the need for enriched fuels, since all but some heavy water reactors will require enriched fuel.
Late-year reports indicate that Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands have decided to pool their knowledge to consider building an enrichment plant based on the centrifuge principle. While this process appears to be more expensive than the American price for enrichment, it can be undertaken on a small scale and expanded easily as new developments occur. It is attractive also because it will give Europeans a chance to do the developmental work and will offer them an independent source of supply. Looming in the background is the highly interesting jet nozzle process for which the Germans claim encouraging results. This process, based on gravity separation, seeks to become economically attractive by escaping the requirement for the heavy duty mechanical equipment of the centrifuge method.
Uranium enrichment capacity can be diverted to weapons purposes, so the politics of this enterprise is complex. In general, the United States is anxious to discourage weapons proliferation and seeks to restrain the development of new enrichment capacity by pricing enriched fuel low. The Europeans are anxious to slip the American tether, but if Germany is to participate in the enterprise—and German industrial and technical strength require that it shall—then many of the implications of ,the Whole German situation become entangled with the undertaking.
A version of this article appeared in print in the January 1969 issue of Resources magazine.
