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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.
L. Schmitz, Y. Tajima, A. Ying, P. Calderoni
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 963-968
Technical Paper | Inertial Fusion Technology: Drivers and Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1619
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Z-pinch driven fusion reactor will require extremely high current pulses to generate sufficient x-ray flux for the fusion target implosion. The fusion target is coupled to the pulsed power system through a recyclable transmission line (RTL) that is presently envisioned made of carbon steel. The energy released by the fusion pulse is absorbed by liquid flibe (Li2BeF4) coolant and by the RTL material which is partially vaporized and ionized. The objective of this paper is to characterize the recombination of vaporized metal halides in the presence of ferritic steel in a plasma with parameters similar to those expected in the Z-IFE chamber (plasma density < 2 × 1018 cm-3, Te < 40000 K). Using a substitute eutectic salt (Na2MgCl4) instead of flibe, we find experimentally that the three-body recombination rate of iron with chlorine is larger than that of sodium with chlorine. The measured recombination rates are compared to equilibrium recombination rates calculated at lower temperature (5000 K). The results suggest that an effective scheme for the removal of ferritic fluorite from the liquid flibe coolant may be needed in a Z-IFE reactor in addition to the mechanical separation of carbon steel RTL material required for recycling.
