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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.
David L. Chapin, William G. Price, Jr.
Nuclear Technology | Volume 31 | Number 1 | October 1976 | Pages 32-47
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31696
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Since the tokamak scheme of plasma confinement provides a toroidal source of fusion neutrons,wide variations in the source distribution at the wall surface are possible. A numerical solution of the neutron streaming equation has been applied to the calculation of the flux and current as functions of wall position for a circular crosssection tokamak and two noncircular tokamaks, the Princeton Reference Design (PRD) and the University of Wisconsin UWMAK-I. The results show significant variations in the pattern of the angular flux and substantial peaking in the scalar flux and current. For example, the current peaks at 22% above nominal for the circular case, 43% for the PRD, and 12% for UWMAK-I. The nominal value, total source ÷ total area, is the commonly stated “wall load.” Effects of this magnitude cannot be ignored in future reactor designs when power densities, damage rates, etc., are evaluated.