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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.
C. A. Gentile, S. Raftopoulos, P. LaMarche, M. Viola, T. Walters, M. Kalish, T. Kozub, H. Carnevale, D. Shaltis, S. Vinson, W. Walker, L. Ciebiera, R. Yager, M. Quigley, R. Meagher, C. Bunting, E. Rogers, M. Casey, R. Hawes, R. Raucci, D. Reeves, E Amarescu, M. Gibson, T. Granger, S. Langish, S. Bush, J. Langford, D. Hyatt, J. L. Anderson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 1564-1566
Safety and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963173
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor which is the progenitor for full D-T operating tokamaks has successfully processed > 81 grams of tritium in a safe and efficient fashion. Many of the fundamental operational techniques associated with the safe movement of tritium through the TFTR facility were developed over the course of many years at DOE tritium facilities (LANL, LLNL, SRS, Mound). In the mid 1980's The Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) at LANL began reporting operational techniques for the safe handling of tritium, and became a major conduit for the transfer of safe tritium handling technology from DOE weapons laboratories to non-weapon facilities. TFTR has built on many of the TSTA operational techniques and has had the opportunity of performing and enhancing these techniques at America's first operational D-T fusion reactor. This paper will discuss negative pressure employing “elephant trunks” in the control and mitigation of tritium contamination at the TFTR facility, and the interaction between contaminated line operations and Δ pressure control. In addition the strategy employed in managing the movement of tritium through TFTR while maintaining an active tritium inventory of < 50,000 Ci will be discussed.