Integral Fast Reactor/Debate Guide

Nuclear power is a controversial topic, and some of the controversies remain unsettled, even after the facts in the article are agreed on. This Debate Guide will provide a concise summary from each side of these unsettled issues. Much of this discussion is collected from Internet forums and other unreliable sources. We welcome updates with better sourcing.

Readiness of this design

The National Academy of Sciences has a report Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors in the United States, 2023. They have concluded that this design needs a lot more work.
From the Summary:
P.1) demonstrations of advanced nuclear designs are not expected until the late 2020s or early 2030s,
P.2) SFRs and HTGRs will need to address supply chain and high-assay low-enrichment uranium (HALEU) issues and operational reliability, which have impacted those designs in the past.
... for example, reactor core materials and cladding.
From Chapter 2, Finding 2-5: ... More mature concepts, such as ... small modular sodium fast reactors, and ... might be technically ready for demonstration by the end of this decade.

Response:

Disadvantages of sodium cooled fast reactors

What is a nuclear reactor? By Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., accessed 9-May=2023.

• Sodium coolant is reactive with air and water. Thus, leaks in the pipes result in sodium fires. These can be engineered around but are a major setback for these reactors.
• To fully burn waste, these require reprocessing facilities which can also be used for nuclear proliferation.
• The excess neutrons used to give the reactor its resource-utilization capabilities could clandestinely be used to make plutonium for weapons.
• Positive void coefficients are inherent to most fast reactors, especially large ones. This is a safety concern.
• Not as much operating experience has been accumulated. We have only about 300 reactor-years of experience with sodium cooled reactors.