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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.
Dennis Mueller, Michael G. Bell, Eric Fredrickson, Alan C. Janos, Forrest C. Jobes, Larry C. Johnson, E. John Lawson, Robert Marsala, David Kingston Owens, Hyeon Park, Alan T. Ramsey, Thomas Senko, Hironori Takahashi, Gary Taylor, King-Lap Wong
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 2 | November 1996 | Pages 251-257
Technical Paper | Special Section: Plasma Control Issues for Tokamaks / Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A30754
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Disruptions on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), especially those occurring at high stored energy, result in lost experimental run time because many discharges are required to regain wall conditions necessary for good plasma performance. A variety of disruption types have been observed on TFTR. These include density-limit disruptions, those caused by a high influx of impurities, those occurring during the current ramp-down, those resulting from locked modes, and those occurring at high normalized β(βN = βTaBT/Ip). A combination of operational experience and limiter development has helped to avoid many potential disruptions. However, the experimental goal of high fusion power production engenders the risk of high-βN disruptions. A system to limit βN by reducing the neutral beam power as a preprogrammed βN limit is reached is now in use to help avoid high-βN disruptions. Operational issues of disruption avoidance, the βN feedback system, the limitations and possible improvements of the system are discussed.