Basic and technology programs on German fast breeder reactor (FBR) research were launched by the government and industry in the sixties. At the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center (KfK), the 20-MWe sodium-cooled KNK experimental nuclear power station was built by INTERATOM. It was operated successfully until 1991. A German-Belgian-Netherlands consortium was responsible for planning and building the SNR 300, a 300-MWe prototype breeder, in Kalkar. For political reasons, the plant was never commissioned; it was stopped in 1991. In the nineties, Germany together with France and the United Kingdom participated for sometime in the development of the European Fast Reactor (EFR).