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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
Yan Qizhen, Zhaochun Zhang, Guo Haibo, Wang Yang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 2 | February 2024 | Pages 178-195
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2213811
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tungsten/graphene composite was developed and demonstrated to have good mechanical and thermal properties. Density functional theory calculations were performed to investigate elastic constants, elastic anisotropies and isotropic elastic moduli, thermodynamic properties and minimum thermal conductivity of tungsten/graphene with and without a helium-vacancy pair, and tungsten/graphane and tungsten/ditungsten carbide (tungsten/W2C) composites. The results show that tungsten/graphene composite has more toughness when compared with pure tungsten metal. It is noticed that the minimum thermal conductivity of tungsten/graphene composite is higher, introducing a potential application in heat dissipation at high temperatures. We give an honest appraisal of the anisotropic and isotropic (polycrystalline) elastic properties of tungsten/graphene, tungsten/graphane, and tungsten/W2C carbide composites. In addition, the results show that the graphene layer is a strong trap for the He atom, while He affinity to the graphene layer is weaker to a single vacancy. The formation of the He-vacancy pair due to trapping effects near the W/graphene interface will help to reduce the concentration of impurities and defects in the tungsten matrix and maintain the inherent heat dissipation properties under irradiation.