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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.
Satoshi Sato, Hideyuki Takatsu, Yasushi Seki, Toshihisa Utsumi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 1129-1133
Neutronics Experiments and Analyses | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963100
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Shielding analyses of the inboard blanket, the vacuum vessel and the Toroidal Field Coil (TFC) in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor OTTER) were performed by Monte Carlo and 2-dimensional discrete ordinate methods taking the radiation streaming through the 20 mm wide gap between the adjacent blanket modules into account, and their peak nuclear responses were evaluated The nuclear responses of the TFC could fully satisfy the radiation limits. On the other hand, the helium production rates of the branch pipe, the leg and the front surface of the vacuum vessel behind the gap were about 2-3 times higher than the radiation limit at the end of the operation, i.e. the neutron fluence of 3 MWa/m2. So the shielding module is required to be increased by 80 mm to satisfy the radiation limit. Also, shielding analyses for 20 - 100 mm wide gaps were performed, and it was found that the gap width could be increased by up to 50 mm from the TFCs protection for their peak nuclear responses point of view.