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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.
Arie Johannes Van ’t Hoft, Jacob Johan de Jong, Jan Piet Vroom, Gerhard Robert Küpers
Nuclear Technology | Volume 78 | Number 3 | September 1987 | Pages 262-277
Nuclear Power Plant Kalkar (SNR-300) | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT87-A15992
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The sodium pumps, intermediate heat exchangers, and steam generators for the liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) SNR-300 were delivered by Neratoom and its industrial partners Royal Schelde and Stork Boilers. All main components were delivered to and erected in the plant between 1983 and 1985 after a long period of delay, caused mainly by continuously changing requirements with respect to the latest state-of-the-art construction and design. It is therefore concluded that to realize an effective manufacturing of breeder components an authorized and final specification is absolutely necessary. After the legal formalization of the licensing step Teilgenehmigung 7/5, it was hardly possible to further change the specification of the SNR-300 components. This led to a speeding up of manufacturing activities; the components were even completed ahead of the new schedules. Therefore, the procedure now foreseen for the post-SNR-LMFBR, to obtain a manufacturing license first before starting fabrication, should be regarded as the most important step toward a commercial LMFBR. The engineering work on the components was accompanied by extensive research and development (R&D) activities. Besides basic R&D work, all components were full-scale tested under SNR-300-like conditions in a 50-MW sodium test facility. The experiences gained from engineering, testing, and manufacturing of the Kalkar components can be used well in the design of the post-Kalkar SNR-2 plant.