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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.
Jong Ho Lee, Soon Heung Chang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 76 | Number 1 | January 1987 | Pages 27-40
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT87-A33894
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A small-break loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) caused by a stuck-open power-operated relief valve is one of the important contributors to nuclear power plant risk. A pressurizer surveillance system was designed to use a microcomputer to prevent the malfunction of the system; the effect of this improvement has been assessed through probabilistic risk assessment. The microcomputer diagnoses the malfunction of the system by a process-checking method and automatically performs the backup action related to each malfunction. This improvement means that we can correctly diagnose “spurious opening,” “failure to reclose,” and “small-break LOCA,” which are difficult for operators to diagnose quickly and correctly, and by taking automatic backup action we can reduce the probability of human error.