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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.
R. W. Moir, T. D. Rognlien
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 408-416
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - Experimental Devices and Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1522
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fusion power plant is described that utilizes a new version of the tandem mirror device including spinning liquid walls. The magnetic configuration is evaluated with an axisymmetric equilibrium code predicting an average beta of 60%. The geometry allows a flowing molten salt, (flibe-Li2BeF4), which protects the walls and structures from damage arising from neutrons and plasma particles. The surface of the liquid facing the burning plasma is heated by bremsstrahlung radiation, line radiation, and by neutrons. The temperature of the free surface of the liquid is calculated, and then the evaporation rate is estimated from vapor-pressure data. The allowed impurity concentration in the burning plasma is taken as 1% fluorine, which gives a 17% reduction in the fusion power owing to D/T fuel dilution, with F line-radiation causing minor power degradation. The end leakage power density of 0.6 MW/m2 is readily handled by liquid jets. The tritium breeding is adequate with natural lithium. The simple geometry and the use of liquid walls promise the cost of power competitive with that from fission and coal.