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Swiss nuclear power and the case for long-term operation
Designed for 40 years but built to last far longer, Switzerland’s nuclear power plants have all entered long-term operation. Yet age alone says little about safety or performance. Through continuous upgrades, strict regulatory oversight, and extensive aging management, the country’s reactors are being prepared for decades of continued operation, in line with international practice.
V. Subramanian, R. Baskaran
Nuclear Technology | Volume 160 | Number 3 | December 2007 | Pages 308-313
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3901
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The behavior of sodium hydroxide aerosol is one of the important features in the safety evaluation of a sodium-cooled fast reactor. The vapor phase combustion of the sodium results in the generation of sodium oxide aerosols in the flame zone. The physical and chemical changes of sodium oxide aerosol after leaving the flame zone are very important to understand the sodium oxide aerosol process. The particle size distribution of sodium hydroxide aerosol after leaving the flame zone is measured using both optical and impaction techniques in the Aerosol Test Facility. The mass median diameter is found to be ~1.0 m for the particles older than 20 s. The size distribution is essentially attributed to sodium hydroxide aerosol. The initial size distribution of particles does not vary with ignition temperatures over the range of 250 to 550°C for a confined pool, whereas the size increases with increase in relative humidity.