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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.
G.J. Laughon, K.R. Schultz
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 471-474
National Ignition Facility | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11962985
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF), proposed by the Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF), will be used to demonstrate fusion ignition in a laboratory environment (1). The primary mission of NIF will be to support U.S. DOE Defense Programs. The facilities' secondary mission will be to support development of inertial fusion as a potential fusion energy source for civilian use (2). Target insertion is one of the technical issues which will need to be addressed before inertial fusion can become a practical energy source, and is one of the issues that can be investigated by experiments on the NIF.
Target insertion systems currently utilized at existing ICF facilities consist of mechanisms inside the target chamber to insert, position, and hold the target at the chamber center. These are not suitable for multiple shots in quick succession, as needed for energy applications. A study was performed to investigate various new techniques for target insertion in NIF.
Insertion concepts involving free-falling and artificially accelerated targets were developed and evaluated against a set of predetermined guidelines. Fixed structure holding systems were not considered due to the destructive environment at the chamber center. Conclusions drawn by the author suggest a system involving a fast retraction positioner would be suitable. A target would be positioned in a holder attached to a moveable arm. The holder is moved to a position slightly above the chamber center. The target is dropped and the holder/arm assembly is quickly retracted to avoid ablation effects. To improve target accuracy, a release system imparting near-zero torque and augmenting the target with additional mass to reduce drag effects would be employed. A plan illustrating a reasonable continuation of the project, leading ultimately to tests in NIF, is also presented.
