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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
Yuji Hatano, Andrei Busnyuk, Vasily Alimov, Alexander Livshits, Yukio Nakamura, Masao Matsuyama
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 2 | August 2008 | Pages 526-529
Technical Paper | Materials Interactions | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1869
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Group 5 metals (V, Nb and Ta) are potential candidates of tube material in vacuum permeator for tritium recovery from Pb-17Li liquid blanket system. From this viewpoint, the influence of oxygen on the surface reaction rates of hydrogen on V and Ta were examined in an ultra-high vacuum apparatuses at elevated temperatures, and the results were compared with the data on Nb acquired in a previous study. The surface reaction rates of hydrogen on V and Ta, and consequently permeation rates, decreased with increasing oxygen concentration in the bulk as previously observed for Nb. These observations were ascribed to the increase in surface oxygen coverage with increasing bulk oxygen concentration. The weakest influence of oxygen on hydrogen permeation rate was observed for V. The expected permeation rate through V under typical blanket conditions, however, was not necessarily high due to high oxygen solubility in V. The evaluation indicated that the highest permeation rate should be obtained with Nb under typical blanket conditions.