FRANCE’s troubled fast-breeder reactor, Superphénix, may be
allowed to reinvent itself as a research centre after all, if Prime Minister
Alain Juppé has his way.
Last month France’s highest court, the Council of State, ruled that a 1994
decree permitting the reactor to operate both for power generation and as a
research centre was invalid (This Week, 15 March, p 5). It called for a new
public inquiry into the reactor. But Juppé has asked the industry
minister, Franck Borotra, to draw up a new version of the decree. The council
will decide whether the revamped document is legal.
