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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 J. Roberts, R. F. Fleming, Harold P. Smith, Jr.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 27 | Number 3 | March 1967 | Pages 573-580
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE86-A17624
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The logic of the time-optimal solution to the xenon shutdown problem for a point reactor model has been successfully applied to an actual reactor system. Spatial integration of the flux-square weighted xenon concentration was used. The predetermined power variation with time successfully held the xenon boundary and created a final shutdown (target) trajectory whose maximum was within three percent of the specified boundary based on the total reactivity variation of the program. Although digital computer calculation, occasionally using trial-and-error techniques, was necessary to predict the power-time shutdown program, the computer requirements were not excessive. Approximately 7 h of additional reactor operation was utilized to prevent a 16 h period during which xenon buildup would have prevented reactor operation.