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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.
L. Caldarola, P. Ferranti, F. Mitzel
Nuclear Technology | Volume 31 | Number 3 | December 1976 | Pages 306-318
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31667
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A computer program for the calculation of reactor transfer functions has been written and tested. The model used for the temperature feedbacks differs from previous models because it accounts not only for heat propagation and heat transport effects but also for effects due to the nonlinearities of thermal parameters, such as the fuel thermal conductivity, the fuel specific heat capacity, and the heat transfer coefficient of the gap between fuel and cladding. Transfer functions are evaluated by making use of analytical methods. Numerical results are also included and show that physical changes in the gap during power oscillations will have an important effect on some particular transfer functions. This result is important if one wants to evaluate the gap heat transfer coefficient from power oscillation experiments.