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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.
Robert D. Woolley
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 1174-1178
Alternative and Advanced Concepts | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963772
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Abandoning superconductors for magnetic fusion reactors and instead using resistive magnet designs based on cheap copper or aluminum conductor material operating at “room temperature” (300°K) can reduce the capital cost per unit fusion power and simplify plant operations.1 By increasing unit size well beyond that of present MFE. conceptual designs using superconducting electromagnets, the recirculating power fraction needed to operate resistive electromagnets can be made as close to zero as needed for economy without requiring superconductors. Other advantages of large fusion plant size, such as very long inductively driven pulses, may also help reduce the cost per unit fusion power.2