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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.
Jean Tommasi, Marc Delpech, Jean-Paul Grouiller, Alain Zaetta
Nuclear Technology | Volume 111 | Number 1 | July 1995 | Pages 133-148
Technical Paper | Enrichment and Reprocessing System | doi.org/10.13182/NT111-133
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recycling minor actinides brings about several adverse effects. In response to the effects on cycle operations (fabrication, reprocessing, transportation) due to decay heat and to alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron activities, neptunium brings no significant ill effect, while americium calls for enhanced protection; the large amount of curium activity makes any recycling of this element extremely difficult. In so-called homogeneous recycling (minor actinides mixed with the fuel), the worsening of safety parameters such as coolant void or Doppler effect sets stringent limitations on the minor actinide content: ≈1% in pressurized water reactors and ≈2.5% in large fast reactors. The heterogeneous recycling, i.e., placing the minor actinides in a few special subassemblies at core periphery, brings about lesser penalties and allows higher contents. In any case, fast reactors are better suited to minor actinide transmutation than light water reactors. Fission products are very difficult to transmute efficiently, even in fast reactors. Such fission products should require the use of hybrid systems for their elimination. Finally, a nuclear park is built up in which the plutonium + minor actinide production of light water reactors is consumed in advanced fast reactors. The amount of electrical power generated by these fast reactors is ≈20%. The radiotoxicity reduction achievable can be of a factor 50 with a 1% loss of minor actinides during reprocessing.