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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.
L. El-Guebaly, P. Wilson, M. Sawan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 1027-1031
Technical Paper | Tritium, Safety, and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1630
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The main goal of this assessment is to classify the radwaste stream of the recyclable transmission lines (RTL) at the end of the Z-Pinch plant operation. With the emergence of the new clearance standards, we included both the national and international standards in our analysis and assessed the implications for the RTL waste stream. The 3-D spectral flux was coupled to the ALARA pulsed activation code to estimate the activation responses. Our results indicate that for the first time an internal component close to the target, such as the RTL, can be cleared from regulatory control following a storage period of 50 y after plant decommissioning. As a design requirement, the recycling process must be economically feasible, accomplished within 1.1 day with no hands-on manufacturing and in the absence of personnel access to the fabrication facility. Advanced remote handling equipment must be developed to handle a dose rate of 3000 Sv/h.