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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
A. Bayramian, P. Armstrong, E. Ault, R. Beach, C. Bibeau, J. Caird, R. Campbell, B. Chai, J. Dawson, C. Ebbers, A. Erlandson, Y. Fei, B. Freitas, R. Kent, Z. Liao, T. Ladran, J. Menapace, B. Molander, S. Payne, N. Peterson, M. Randles, K. Schaffers, S. Sutton, J. Tassano, S. Telford, E. Utterback
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 383-387
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - Experimental Devices and Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1517
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Hundred-joule, kilowatt-class lasers based on diode-pumped solid-state technologies, are being developed worldwide for laser-plasma interactions and as prototypes for fusion energy drivers. The goal of the Mercury Laser Project is to develop key technologies within an architectural framework that demonstrates basic building blocks for scaling to larger multi-kilojoule systems for inertial fusion energy (IFE) applications. Mercury has requirements that include: scalability to IFE beamlines, 10 Hz repetition rate, high efficiency, and 109 shot reliability. The Mercury laser has operated continuously for several hours at 55 J and 10 Hz with fourteen 4 × 6 cm2 ytterbium doped strontium fluoroapatite amplifier slabs pumped by eight 100 kW diode arrays. A portion of the output 1047 nm was converted to 523 nm at 160 W average power with 73 % conversion efficiency using yttrium calcium oxy-borate (YCOB).
