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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.
Kazuyuki Takase, Tomoaki Kunugi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 645-650
Safety and Environment (Poster Session) | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963687
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The dust mobilization in the vacuum vessel under the Loss-of-Vacuum-Accident (LOVA) event was measured quantitatively using the preliminary LOVA apparatus. The particle size distributions in the mobilized dust were characterized and analyzed using a high performance optical-microscope and image analysis software. It was found that around 10% of the initial dust weight was transported upward inside the VV when the breach located at the roof of the VV and an incoming flow from the outside through the breach directly hit the dust. On the other hand, the transported dust weight was less than 1% of the initial dust weight when the breach position was at the side wall of the VV and an incoming flow from the outside indirectly hit the dust. The relationship between the dust mobilization and breach position was clarified from the present experimental results.