What technological advance has caused more harm than good?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

George,
I am under the impression that ship board nuclear generators succumb to the same problems land based reactors do. The core material reaches a point where there is a diminishing return on the amount of energy produced vs. the energy left and the core gets swapped out. At some point the reactors need to be refurbed or replaced. Perhaps someone on the east coast has a better answer.
Alan,
I was under the impression that all French breeders were liquid sodium cooled. If there is but one left, then they must have seen the light and decommisioned. It seems to me that there may have been as many as seven at one time. Do you have any info on the French system at present? I am going to check and see what I find.

ed. My fault for not keeping up on this, but it appears that most countries have abandoned breeder reactor programs, France included. The one remaining online is the Phenix as outlined by Alan while thier second remaining breeder reactor is undergoing rebuild. All others have been decommissioned. The rather large sodium fire in a Japanese reactor in 1995 made many operators take a second look at breeders and many have revised their programs. In the articles I read online, Russia seems to be still working on breeder research as other governments like Germany, close down plans for breeder production. 90 percent of French electric energy is generated by nuclear plants according to a Feb 2005 article.