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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.
Lee A. James
Nuclear Technology | Volume 16 | Number 1 | October 1972 | Pages 316-322
Technical Paper | Reactor Materials Performance / Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT72-A31197
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fatigue-crack propagation behavior of 20% cold-worked Type 316 stainless steel was characterized over the temperature range 75 to 1300°F (24 to 704°C) using linear-elastic fracture mechanics. It was found that, at a given level of stress intensity factor, increasing the temperature produced a significant increase in the rate of fatigue-crack propagation. At 1000°F, decreasing the cyclic frequency tended to increase the crack growth rate. The data also suggest that, at a given temperature, the crack growth rate is slightly higher when the direction of crack extension is parallel to the rolling direction than when the crack extension is perpendicular to the rolling direction. Comparison with data for solution-annealed Type 316 fatigue-cycled under similar conditions indicates that, at a given temperature, cold working tends to increase the resistance to fatigue-crack propagation.