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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.
Joseph A. Angelo, Jr., Roy G. Post
Nuclear Technology | Volume 24 | Number 3 | December 1974 | Pages 323-330
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste | doi.org/10.13182/NT74-A31494
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The heat generated by spent fuel elements and typical processing waste from both a 1000 MW(e) reference design pressurized water reactor (PWR) and 1160 MW(e) reference design high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) were calculated for times up to 1000 years. To compensate for differences in exposure, the heat generated was expressed in terms of watts of heat generated per megawatt day of exposure. Examination of both tabular data and graphical presentations of these normalized heat generation data indicates noticeable differences in the contribution of different isotopes for each system. As anticipated, the heat generation for each fuel was greatly influenced by the transmuted isotopes 233Pa and 238Pu for the HTGR with 137Cs and 90Sr for the PWR. Data provide quantitative detailed information on the thermal power output of typical processing waste for both reactor systems for the first millennium of cooling.