Newswire : Phénix rises

France’s Atomic Energy Commission has decided to restart its Phénix
fastbreeder reactor, built for research in the 1970s and shut down in 1994
because of safety concerns. The move coincides with the closure of its
successor, Superphénix, used to study nuclear waste since 1994. This was
judged commercially unviable and will be dismantled by 2005 at a cost of
£1 billion. The commission says Phénix is better suited to the
waste experiments.