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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.
Samuel A. Naff, William F. Schwarz
Nuclear Technology | Volume 46 | Number 2 | December 1979 | Pages 340-343
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-A32336
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Computer models used to predict the response of reactors to hypothetical accidents necessarily incorporate approximating assumptions. When attempting to verify the models by comparing predicted and measured responses in test facilities, there must be confirmation that these assumptions are realistic. Recent experiments in U.S. facilities capable of repeatedly duplicating the transient behavior of a pressurized water reactor undergoing a pipe rupture show that the assumption of complete water-steam mixing during the transient results in the predicted decompression being faster than that observed. A noninstantaneous condensation model is described that will be incorporated into later versions of the RELAP4 code, allowing more realistic predictions of decompression rate during the emergency core coolant injection phases of a loss-of-coolant accident.