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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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New coolants, new fuels: A new generation of university reactors
Here’s an easy way to make aging U.S. power reactors look relatively youthful: Compare them (average age: 43) with the nation’s university research reactors. The 25 operating today have been licensed for an average of about 58 years.
L. P. Leach, L. J. Ybarrondo, G. D. McPherson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 33 | Number 2 | April 1977 | Pages 126-149
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31772
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The first two loss-of-coolant experiments have been performed in the Loss-of-Fluid Test (LOFT) Facility. The experimental results are compared to analytical model results from the RELAP4 computer code. LOFT is a pressurized water reactor specially designed and instrumented to perform experiments representative of a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) in a power reactor. For these first two experiments, the nuclear core was not installed in LOFT. The first experiment was initiated from a pressure of 9.3 MPa with water at 282°C, and the break represented a half-size double-ended offset shear in the hot leg of a power reactor. The second experiment was initiated from a pressure of 15.3 MPa, a temperature of 282°C, and simulated a complete double-ended offset shear in the cold leg of a power reactor. In the first experiment, emergency core cooling was injected by low-pressure, high-pressure, and accumulator emergency core cooling systems at times representative of what would occur in a LOCA in a power reactor.