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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.
N. R. Chellew, R. K. Steunenberg
Nuclear Technology | Volume 3 | Number 3 | March 1967 | Pages 142-146
Technical Paper and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT67-A27868
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The reaction UCl3 + Pu ⇋ PuCl3 + U was examined by measurement of the redistribution of plutonium after equilibration of molten uranium alloys containing 0.2 to 4.2% Pu with UCl3 diluted with CaCl2. Equilibrium constants for the reaction, calculated from the experimental results, were about 200 at 1150°C and 170 at 1200°C. For reactants equilibrated at 1200°C, the loss of Pu by vaporization was small (≈1% of the initial concentration in the alloy during a 30-min reaction period), and the contamination of the metallic ingot by reaction with BeO containment crucibles was negligible. The experimentally derived equilibrium constant for the reaction at 1200°C was used to predict the extraction of Plutonium from uranium containing 1 to 4% Pu. The calculated extraction was sufficiently large to show promise for the application of chloride slagging techniques to the processing of metallic breeder blanket material.