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WIPP: Lessons in transportation safety
As part of a future consent-based approach by the federal government to site new deep geologic repositories for nuclear waste, local communities and states that are considering hosting such facilities are sure to have many questions. Currently, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is the only example of such a repository in operation, and it offers the opportunity for state and local officials to visit and judge for themselves the risks and benefits of hosting a similar facility. But its history can also provide lessons for these officials, particularly the political process leading up to the opening of WIPP, the safety of WIPP operations and transportation of waste from generator facilities to the site, and the economic impacts the project has had on the local area of Carlsbad, as well as the rest of the state of New Mexico.
K. Nojiri, M. Sakamoto, K. Oki, M. Yoshikawa, Y. Nakashima, M. Yoshikawa, A. Terakado, R. Nohara, M. Mizuguchi, T. Imai, M. Ichimura
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 1 | July 2015 | Pages 120-124
Technical Paper | Open Magnetic Systems 2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-893
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In GAMMA 10/PDX, the relationship between electron density and temperature of the divertor simulation plasma in the divertor simulation experimental module (D-module) and the density of the upstream plasma has been studied. As the amount of gas (H2 and Ar) injected into the D-module increases, the line-averaged electron density (ne_WP) of the west plug plasma (i.e., upstream plasma) increases due to gas flow from the D-module to the upstream. The electron temperature of the divertor simulation plasma monotonically decreases with increase in ne_WP. The electron density of the divertor simulation plasma becomes saturated against increase in ne_WP when the plasma is sustained only by the ion cyclotron heating. This may suggest a sign of the beginning of the density roll-over. Additional electron cyclotron heating to the upstream plasma increases the density of both the upstream plasma and the divertor simulation plasma, and the saturated density of the divertor simulation plasma recovers to a linear dependence on ne_WP, suggesting an enhanced ionization of neutral gases in the upstream and the D-module.