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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.
John D. Burtt, Louis M. Shotkin, Joseph L. Staudenmeier
Nuclear Technology | Volume 119 | Number 3 | September 1997 | Pages 244-268
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35401
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Calculations were performed for the same accident scenario in the same power plant geometry using the same version of the RELAP5/MOD3.2 computer code, but each calculation was performed using different user options in the code input deck. The accident scenario analyzed was a 1-in. cold-leg break in the new Westing-house AP600 design. The calculations were analyzed for those key events leading to actuation of the AP600 automatic depressurization system. Three different user choices for plant system noding were used: (a) a detailed noding with a quasi-three-dimensional vessel; (b) a simplified system noding with a quasi-three-dimensional core, lower plenum, and upper plenum, but a simplified downcomer noding; and (c) a detailed system and downcomer noding, but a one-dimensional core, lower plenum, and upper plenum. Two other user options were separately exercised, i.e., shutting off the model for thermal stratification and using different initial temperatures for the core. The discussion focuses on the relative effect of these different user options on flow through the P-loop hot leg, initial reversal in flow through the pressure balance line, timing of draining of the core makeup tanks, and timing of actuation of the automatic depressurization system.