Early History of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in France -The Honeymoon Era of Radioactive Waste Reprocessing and Fast Breeder Reactors

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Historically, there were two reasons why France chose the nuclear fuel cycle. The first reason is to produce plutonium by reprocessing plant for the first French atomic bombing in 1960. The second reason is that French uranium mining both in France and in French overseas territories had reached the limit at the end of the 1950s. The nuclear fuel cycle was intended for use with fast breeder reactors and France began to develop FBR from the 1960s and became the world leader in the middle of 1970s. France, which started nuclear power development later than the U.S. had a strong desire to surpass the U.S. in the development of fast breeder reactors.