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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.
J. E. LeSurf, G. M. Allison
Nuclear Technology | Volume 29 | Number 2 | May 1976 | Pages 160-165
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31575
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments in reactor loops have established relationships among ammonia decomposition rate, ammonia and hydrogen concentrations, and energy deposition in boiling water. These relationships predicted an approximate ammonia decomposition rate in the 250-MW(e) CANDU-BLW, G-1 pres-sure-tube reactor of 20 g NH3/h per MW(th), 25% less than the total loss rate measured on the reactor. When the ammonia concentration in the water phase at exit from the reactor channels is kept above 7 mg/kg, the nitrate concentration in the recirculating water is ≈0.1 mg/kg and oxygen is <10 µg/kg- Experiments in the Halden Boiling Heavy Water Reactor demonstrated that the method is applicable to pres sure-vessel reactors, but larger decomposition rates of ammonia will occur. Other factors to consider are large volumes of N2 and H2 to the off-gas system, increased radiation fields around the turbine, and reduced efficiency of ion-exchange resins.