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Latest News
WIPP improves utility shaft safety, begins infrastructure project
Harrison Western Shaft Sinkers (HWSS), the company drilling a new utility shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, has retained a safety culture expert following a near-miss accident in the shaft late last year. The safety expert will conduct monthly facilitated discussions with crews working on the shaft to reinforce expectations for identifying concerns regarding unsafe circumstances, according to a recent report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).
David Petti, Kathryn McCarthy
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 37 | Number 1 | January 2000 | Pages 1-23
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST00-A117
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Magnetic fusion energy has the potential for superior safety and environmental (S&E) characteristics relative to other energy options, which is one of the main reasons for developing fusion power. Excellent progress has been made in understanding the nature of the S&E concerns associated with fusion power and in demonstrating the S&E potential of fusion. Over the past 10 yr, U.S. fusion S&E activities have been largely focused on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The design of ITER is such that the hazards addressed are similar to those of a future fusion power plant; hence, many of the safety issues addressed by ITER are relevant to commercial fusion power plants. This paper reviews the progress and accomplishments in fusion S&E activities performed largely in support of ITER over the past decade and discusses future directions in fusion safety design criteria development and implementation; characterization of the radioactive and hazardous materials in fusion and the potential energy sources that could mobilize those materials during an accident; integrated state-of-the-art safety and risk analysis tools, methods, and results; and development of environmental design criteria for radioactive and hazardous fusion waste minimization as well as the evaluation of recycle/reuse potential of fusion materials.