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Modernizing I&C for operations and maintenance, one phase at a time
The two reactors at Dominion Energy’s Surry plant are among the oldest in the U.S. nuclear fleet. Yet when the plant celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023, staff could raise a toast to the future. Surry was one of the first plants to file a subsequent license renewal (SLR) application, and in May 2021, it became official: the plant was licensed to operate for a full 80 years, extending its reactors’ lifespans into 2052 and 2053.
S. Imagawa, T. Mito, K. Takahata, S. Yamada, N. Yanagi, H. Chikaraishi, R. Maekawa, H. Tamura, A. Iwamoto, S. Hamaguchi, T. Obana, T. Okamura, Y. Shirai, T. Ise, T. Hamajima, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 560-570
Chapter 12. Superconducting Magnet System | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10843
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Large Helical Device (LHD) is one of the world's largest superconducting systems. It consists of a pair of pool-cooled helical coils, three pairs of forced-flow-cooled poloidal coils, nine superconducting bus lines, a helium liquefier and refrigerator of 10-kW class, and six dc power supplies. Its stored magnetic energy reaches 0.8 GJ. Availability higher than 99% has been achieved in the long-term continuous operation since the first cooldown in February 1998 owing to the robustness of the systems and to efforts of maintenance and operation. One major problem is shortage of cryogenic stability of the helical coil conductor due to the slow current diffusion into a thick pure aluminum stabilizer. To improve its cryogenic stability by lowering the temperature, a subcooling system was installed before the tenth cooldown. The outlet temperature of the coil was successfully lowered to 3.8 K from 4.4 K of the saturated temperature, and its operation current was increased to 11.6 kA from 11.0 kA. These experiences of modification, maintenance, and operation should be useful for next large superconducting systems.