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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.
R. Berger, G. Koehly, C. Musikas, R. Pottier, R. Sontag
Nuclear Technology | Volume 8 | Number 4 | April 1970 | Pages 371-379
Chemical Processing | doi.org/10.13182/NT70-A28663
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Four slugs containing a sum total of 20.950 g of plutonium as Al-Pu 10% alloy have been irradiated in the EL-3 reactor to an integrated flux of 5 × 1021 n/cm2. After 2.5 years of cooling, the processing has been carried out in the hot cell “Petrus.” It consisted of (a) an alkaline and/or nitric dissolution of the “napkin-rings,” (b) a plutonium separation by two extraction cycles with trilaurylamine (5 vol%), each consisting of a plutonium extraction from a nitric medium and stripping by a solution containing sulfuric and nitric acids, (c) a transplutonium element separation by two HDEHP (8 vol %) extraction cycles, each consisting of an actinide-lanthanide extraction from an aluminum and lithium nitrate solution and a selective stripping of the transplutonium elements by a lithium nitrate solution containing diethylenetriaminopentaacetic ions (DTPA), and (d) an americium/curium separation by anion exchange resin using a nitric solution containing a complexing agent as eluent. From these runs 2.6 g of plutonium, 150 mg of americium, and 15 mg of curium have been recovered. The overall yields of plutonium and transplutonium elements were >97 and 98%, respectively, and the β - γ decontamination factors >105. In general, these results show clearly the effectiveness of solvent extraction in actinide reprocessing.