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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.
William L. Baldewicz, Ahmed R. Wazzan, David Okrent
Nuclear Technology | Volume 46 | Number 2 | December 1979 | Pages 263-267
Technical Paper | Nuclear Power Reactor Safety (Presented at the ENS/ANS International Meeting, Brussels, Belgium, October 16–19, 1978) / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32326
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Grain size is one of the most important parameters affecting fission gas release and swelling of nuclear fuels. On the other hand, fission gas bubbles in previously irradiated fuel interact with moving grain boundaries and affect subsequent grain growth. Equations are developed that describe equiaxed grain growth in oxide fuel that has undergone previous irradiation (burnup) at temperatures too low to promote grain growth. The resulting expressions relate the grain growth rate at the new high temperature to the percent burnup (or fission gas content) experienced during the prior low-temperature period.