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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.H. Miley, J. DeMora, R. Stubbers, I.V. Tzonev, R.A. Anderl, J.H. Nadler, R. Nebel
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 1315-1319
Innovative Approaches to Fusion Energy | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963130
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two different, complementary approaches were taken to determine the effects of an Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) grid's design on the neutron production rate of the device. A semi-empirical formula developed from experimental data predicts the neutron yield of an IEC device, given the chamber size, grid radius and transparency, and operating voltage and current. Results from the IXL™ computer program support some of the scalings found in the semi-empirical formula. A second formula was also developed that predicts the neutron yield of an IEC device using grid design parameters and the ion core radius. The SIMION™ computer program was used to calculate the ion core radius. These formulas are useful tools for designing grids that will maximize the neutron yield for IEC devices.
