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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.
Xiaole Wang, Leisheng Chen, Ruixiang Sun, Jaeyoung Lee
Nuclear Technology | Volume 211 | Number 8 | August 2025 | Pages 1662-1673
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2425915
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inserting small spheres of a fixed size into a pebble bed can enhance heat transfer, lower the surface temperature of fuel elements, and reduce the risk of local hot spots. However, does a multisized pebble bed outperform a double-sized pebble bed in terms of heat transfer? To address this question, numerical simulations were conducted to evaluate the heat transfer characteristics of face-centered-cubic-structured pebble beds with two and three types of small spheres, maintaining a constant solid volume. The results showed that the average heat transfer coefficients of the multisized pebble bed were nearly identical to those of the double-sized bed. This suggests that using two types of small spheres does not necessarily provide better heat transfer performance than using a double-sized bed. Additionally, the number, size, and placement of the spheres influenced the pressure drop. These findings offer insights into the heat transfer behavior of high-temperature reactor cores and provide a useful reference for the design of future pebble bed reactor cores.