[The following article was published in the July 9 issue of the Swiss Trotskyist fortnightly La Brèche. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
The July 30 and 31 demonstrations against the Superphénix breeder reactor near Creys-Malville raise a series of questions concerning the French bourgeoisie's nuclear development program. What part does Superphénix play in this program? What danger does it represent? What is at stake in the struggle?
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, its member countries estimated in November 1976 that their total nuclear generating capacity would be on the order of 325 billion watts by 1985. Six months later, this estimate was lowered to 253 billion watts (Le Monde, May 11, 1977).
The United States domestic market provides a telling example. Between 1974 and 1976, the number of reactors on order dropped from thirty to three (Sciences et Avenir, No. 363). (See box.)
There will apparently be no new orders in 1977. As for reactor sales abroad since 1974, there have been very few (Le Monde, May 12, 1977).
While the French nuclear development program is still one of the most extensive, it has gone through a "slight reversal." Instead of having an installed capacity of six billion watts in the next few years, EDF (Electricité de France) will have a capacity of only five billion. The Commission on Nuclear-Generated Electricity might soon bring this figure down to four billion watts (Le Monde, May 11, 1977).
There are two reasons for the slowdown in nuclear development programs taking place nearly everywhere-economic factors combined with the emergence of an unprecedented, massive opposition movement.
The 1975 recession shattered expectations of energy needs. Between 1960 and 1973, the total energy needs of the OECD countries grew by an average of 5.1% a year. In 1974-75, energy consumption showed a slight decline. In 1976, there was a slight recovery, but even optimistic projections of annual growth do not exceed 3.6%.
The international uranium cartel, headed by Gulf Oil, managed to quintuple the price of a pound of uranium oxide within five years, blaming the increase on competition!
But the pressure of the mass movement has also been responsible for undermining the program. It has led to the reinforcement of safety measures and inspection procedures, lengthened construction time, and so on.
Thus, the cost of one kilowatt generated by a nuclear plant built in the United States in 1969 to go into operation in 1975 was $250. This rose to $750 in 1973 for a plant that would not go into operation until 1983 (Le Monde, May 12, 1977).
Confronted by this situation, the ruling classes in the various countries are making different choices in accordance with their specific interests-fossil fuel resources (oil, coal), energy independence, competitive position, and so on. The American imperialists appear to have opted for enriched-uranium reactors (first generation). Consequently, nuclear fission energy in the United States will last around thirty years, given the depletion of uranium 235 fuel.
A section of the European bourgeoisie, headed by the French, advocates a different policy.
Building Superphénix near Creys- Malville, in the department of Isére, as a model for the industry (paid for by EDF, with a 51% capital investment; ENBL of Italy, 33%; and RWE of West Germany, 16%) represents one of the cornerstones of the French nuclear development program. Indeed, the development of fast-neutron breeder reactors should theoretically make it possible to produce more new fissile material [nuclear fuel], in the form of plutonium 239 (Pu 239) than would be consumed in the form of uranium 235 (U 235). This is the principle on which breeder reactors operate.
Thus, EDF intends to solve the problem of the depletion of uranium 235 resources by means of these reactors-the so-called second-generation reactors-which are supposed to supersede conventional plants, or first-generation reactors.
This strategy requires rapid production of an abundant supply of plutonium from uranium 238. However, what is referred to as a breeder reactor's doubling time-the amount of time necessary for the reactor to produce enough plutonium 239 to fuel a second reactor of the same size-is estimated at around a quarter of a century. Since a bottleneck in the supply of uranium 235 has been projected for around 1990, "there is every reason to believe that, despite the efforts being made to promote them, breeder reactors have arrived too late. (L'Enjeu Nucléaire [The Nuclear Stakes], by Jean Rossel, Editions Pierre-Favre. Our emphasis-La Brèche.)
In fact, the only real motive behind such misleading and irresponsible activities is the prospect of fast profits.
The breeder reactor has considerable importance for the European capitalists, particularly the French, who have something of a head start in this area, as P. Wyart of OPEN [Organisation des Producteurs de l'Energie Nucléaire-Organization of Nuclear Energy Producing Countries, representing West Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland] stated (Le Monde, May 7, 1977).
The European bourgeoisie, headed by a number of French companies, such as Creusot-Loire (the Empain-Schneider trust), the Compagnie Générale d'Electri-
(CGE), and Péchiney-Ugine- Kuhlmann (PUK), has fond hopes of achieving an industrial breakthrough by forcing adoption of European-especially French-breeder reactors. The market is huge. This is also the reason why EDF is putting forward one of the most reckless nuclear development programs.
Therefore, more than for any other plant, the stakes involved in Superphénix are international.
While development of the fast-neutron (breeder) reactor does away with some of the problems created by conventional reactors, it has other dangers that are qualitatively greater. The possibility of a "nuclear excursion" occurring—a euphemism that refers to a miniature atomic explosion on the order of one-tenth of a low-yield atomic bomb-cannot be ruled out.
Superphénix is designed to hold 5,000 tons of liquid sodium. This liquid, which is heated to 560 degrees Celsius [1,040 degrees Fahrenheit], removes the heat produced by the nuclear reaction. The high chemical reactivity of sodium, which explodes on contact with moist air or water, as well as the metal's effects on the reactor's structural materials (particularly concrete) demonstrate an aspect of the irresponsibility of the project: At present, there is no known way to extinguish a "sodium fire" involving more than one or two tons of the liquid metal.
The dangers inherent in the use of 4.6 tons of plutonium in a breeder reactor like Superphénix are even greater. In fact, at each step on the chain of operations called the fuel cycle (extraction, transportation, processing, and storage), severe accidents can oceur, resulting in the dissemination of radioactive matter such as plutonium. And yet, if current trends continue, there will be hundreds of tons of plutonium in circulation throughout Europe.
Pu 239 is radioactive. It gives off alpha particles. Its half-life is 24,000 years, meaning that it remains radioactive for a very long time, with terrifying biological effects.
The critical mass for Pu 239 leading to a six nuclear explosion is around kilograms-which is very little in relation to the enormous amounts in circulation! Furthermore, breeder reactors generally produce higher-grade plutonium than the
Status of U.S. Nuclear Plants
Reactors
Reactors
New Projects in Operation
Ordered
Announced
1977*
*1977 figures through June 30 from Atomic Industrial Forum. Although two plants have been ordered since June 30, there have also been cancellations of four previously planned nuclear plants in the United States during the first half of this year.—IP
kind produced by a first-generation plant. There is a genuine risk of theft, loss, or diversion of this substance.
For the proponents of nuclear power, the solution to this problem lies partly in the widespread use of special monitoring systems and safety devices, which cost—in the case of the Gösgen, Switzerland, plant alone-more than 20 million Swiss francs [about US $8.3 million]. It also involves building up private armed militias, which goes hand in hand with reinforcing the police state and, by the same token, repressing antinuclear dissidents.
In metallic form, plutonium can ignite spontaneously upon contact with air, forming a suspension of fine dust particles in the atmosphere. The effect on the lungs of inhaling radioactive particles presents one of the most severe types of contamination. The "maximum acceptable dosage" of Pu 239 in the lungs is 26 millionths of a gram.
What would the consequences of a nuclear accident be?
To begin with, there are studies on this subject that have been put forward by the proponents of nuclear energy. An example is the Rasmussen report, which indicates that there could be several thousand deaths, although the probability is less than for some natural disasters—so there's nothing to worry about!
Next, there are reports designed to be kept confidential, so as not to interfere with brainwashing the public. These reports come to light only because of leaks. The most recent is the one prepared by German experts whose job it was to give an official estimate of the risk of unusually severe but not impossible accidents-such as a reactor core meltdown caused by failure of the cooling system, the spread of radioactive matter into the atmosphere, or total failure of the cooling system of the storage basin for spent fuel in a reprocessing plant. The resulting estimated dosages of radioactivity are frightening: more than 20,000 rems would be spread over a 100- kilometer radius from the site of the leak (a dose of 600 rems is fatal).
The Bundesverband Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz [Federal League of Citizens' Committees for Protection of the Environment] in West Germany has estimated the consequences of such findings. If the leak occurred in northern Germany, radiation exceeding the fatal dosage could spread 2,000 kilometers and cover all of Western Europe. More than thirty million persons would be contaminated in West Germany. Several thousand square kilometers of land would become uncultivable and uninhabitable for dozens of years.
The nuclear industry is extremely vulnerable in case of an armed conflict. Conventional weapons are quite capable of penetrating a nuclear plant's containment. Thus, a radioactive nuclear war could easily be fought with conventional weapons.
Of course, the dangers of nuclear energy are not confined to accidents. The "normal" functioning of the fuel cycle involves the discharge of various wastes into the atmosphere. But the large increase in the amount of radiation absorbed by workers in the nuclear industry was specifically what led the atomic energy section of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor to call attention to the deterioration of safety measures as private ownership of the nuclear industry in France gradually increased. This is what gives the struggle waged by workers at the reprocessing plant in La Hague, France, its importance as an example.
Breeder reactors, because they involve a huge increase in the day-to-day and potential risks to workers and the general population, the spread of reprocessing plants, the heavy use of plutonium, and a more repressive society, can only intensify the barbaric aspects of capitalism in its death agony.
There are three reasons why revolutionists should take part in antinuclear demonstrations. First, because of the serious potential danger of nuclear energy, which is exacerbated by the use of breeder alternative reactors. Second, because energy sources exist-less profitable, per haps, from the capitalists'
point of view, but cheaper and more rational from the standpoint of the interests of society as a whole. And finally, because the public as a whole has not had a say in setting energy priorities, and has no control over either the way in which nuclear energy is used or the purposes it is used for.