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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.
Dmitry V. Paramonov, Mohamed S. El-Genk
Nuclear Technology | Volume 108 | Number 2 | November 1994 | Pages 157-170
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A35027
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An integrated model of the TOPAZ-II space nuclear reactor system is developed and compared with measurements from the TOPAZ-II, V-71 unit tests. For a given reactor thermal power, the model calculates the coolant flow rate, temperature, and pressure throughout the system; load electric power; and overall system efficiency. Model predictions showed good agreement with the experimental data. The calculated coolant temperatures and pressure are within 15 K (<2%) and 12% of the measurements, respectively. Analysis showed that at the nominal operating thermal power of the system (115 kW), the NaK coolant is highly subcooled. The largest subcooling of 365 K occurs at the exit of the electromagnetic pump, where coolant pressure is highest, and the lowest subcooling of 275 K occurs at the exit of the reactor core, where coolant temperature is highest.