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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.
Ralph W. Seidensticker, Howard L. Schreyer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 51 | Number 3 | December 1980 | Pages 489-498
Technical Paper | Mechanics Applications to Fast Breeder Reactor Safety / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32584
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Prestressed concrete containment structures can withstand the highest pressures resulting from the worst accident conditions postulated for liquid-metal fast breeder reactor plants. However, in addition to pressure loads, other potential hazards exist, such as internally generated missiles, hydrogen deflagration, and sodium fire. The latter is potentially the most critical because of the high temperatures that are involved. Preliminary indications are that with a reasonable research effort focused on experiments, appropriate constitutive models, and innovative design concepts, it would be shown that this threat could also be contained. The research is proposed because there is a good possibility that prestressed concrete could withstand in a completely passive mode all of the accident scenarios that are currently being postulated. If this could be shown in a definitive sense, the social and economic benefits would be very significant.