ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
M. J. Bell
Nuclear Technology | Volume 18 | Number 1 | April 1973 | Pages 5-14
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT73-A16102
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ORIGEN computer code has been used to compute the time-dependent thermal power, photon spectrum, and neutron production rate resulting from fast- and thermal-neutron-induced fission of 235U and 239Pu fuels. Computed afterheats and photon spectra of fission products resulting from thermal fission of 235U are shown to be in good agreement with published data, and computed radioactivities and thermal power of plutonium irradiated to low exposures in both thermal- and fast-neutron spectra are found to agree well with experimentally measured properties. Radioactive decay of the actinide elements is calculated to contribute 10 to 25% of the thermal power of spent low enrichment 235U fuels at postirradiation times between one day and three years. Gamma radiation per unit mass of 30-day-cooled LMFBR core fuel is calculated to exceed that from 90-day-cooled PWR fuel by a factor of 30 in the higher energy groups, and spontaneous fission neutron production per gram of spent LMFBR core fuel is found to exceed that of PWR fuel by a factor of 3 at these times.