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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.
Peter Yarsky, Kevin Coyne, Cynthia Taylor, Chad Oelstrom
Nuclear Technology | Volume 211 | Number 2 | February 2025 | Pages 358-376
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2326375
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Risk plus Some Attributes (R + SA) is a method that risk informs the prioritization of inspection activities related to new fuel cycle facility construction. The method uses information available in the Integrated Safety Analysis (ISA) summary to compute the risk-informed importance score of each item relied on for safety (IROFS) referenced in the ISA summary. The approach is based on approximating the risk for each accident sequence and then apportioning that risk to IROFSs associated with that sequence. Once the IROFS risk-informed importance score is computed, the importance score can be adjusted to account for other factors besides the risk. These other factors capture attributes of the IROFSs that affect the prioritization they should receive for inspection. An example of an attribute is the complexity of the IROFSs; complex as opposed to simple IROFSs warrant a higher inspection priority. This paper provides a description of the theoretical and mathematical framework of the R + SA methodology.