Publication Laka-library:
The French nuclear electricity programme
| Author | EdF |
| Date | 1982 |
| Classification | 2.02.0.00/24 (FRANCE - GENERAL) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
I - historical summary of events Foreshadowing of industrial development potential Nuclear physics has long been a favourite precinct of French scientific research, with such illustrious forbears as Henri BECQUEREL and Frédéric JOLIOT-CURIE. Following this tradition, and determined to develop the practical applications of atomic research, the French Government decided to set up the Commissariat à l' Energie Atomique (C.E.A.) at the end of World War Two. The CEA then carried out numerous experiments with pilot reactors which led up to the construction, at MARCOULE, of three electricity-generating reactors which were prototypes for what has been called the graphite gas cooled reactor (GGCR) system fuelled by natural uranium. Development of the GGCR technology In FRANCE, nuclear power generating entered the industrial stage in 1956, when Electricité de France (EDF) was instructed to build a series of operational units starting with three located on the banks of the Loire, at CHINON. The first of these reactors was declared obsolete in 1973, but the other two are still in service. They are differentiated by the type of containment building, the older of the two being made of steel while the other marked the appearance of pre-stressed concrete. The next stage of development occured with the construction at SAINT-LAURENT- DESEAUX of two GGCR units which comprised steam generators inside the containment; the same design was used for the power station at VANDELLOS in Spain which was built by French contractors. Applying identical technology, but with the new fuel rings instead of rods, the first unit at BUGEY went into service in 1972 (540 MW).
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