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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.
Sümer Şahin, Ali Erişen, Yalçin Çebi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 15 | Number 1 | January 1989 | Pages 37-48
Technical Paper | Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A25322
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A straightforward numerical graphical method is applied to achieve a flat fission power density (FPD) in a hybrid blanket by using a mixed fuel (ThO2 and natural UO2) with variable fractions of the fuel components in the radial direction. The neutronic analysis is carried out on a blanket with a hard neutron spectrum in the fissionable zone by simply omitting the moderating beryllium neutron multiplier. Mainly due to this precaution in the blanket design, the FPD could be kept quasi-constant over a relatively long plant lifetime. The peak-to-average FPD increased from 1.0704 at startup to only 1.1056 after an operation period of 24 months by a plant factor of 60% under a first-wall fusion neutron flux load of 1014 to 14 MeV·-n/cm2·s, corresponding to ∼2.25 MW/m2. Consequently, a hybrid blanket of the type used in this study would not require any fuel management scheme for at least 2 yr of plant operation.