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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.
Ryo Ito, Fu Nomoto, Yasuyuki Ogino, Keisuke Mukai, Juro Yagi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 3 | April-May 2024 | Pages 590-595
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2229673
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The operation of fusion reactors requires the development of a 6Li enrichment process that does not have a negative impact on the environment. This study focuses on a new two-liquid-phase chemical exchange system, liquid-metal/chloride molten salt system. In this system, 6Li is distributed unevenly between immiscible liquid metal and chloride molten salt. After two-liquid contacting mixing, a quadrupole inductively coupled plasma spectrometry measurement was performed. The measured isotope ratio of 6Li to 7Li was corrected with mass bias compensation, and separation factor α was obtained. In both systems (Li/LiCl-KCl system, and Li-Pb/LiCl-KCl system), the α values were greater than 1 at 648 K almost at a 68% confidence interval, showing that more 6Li was likely distributed to liquid metal than to chloride molten salt. These results suggest that this system is applicable to enrich 6Li under optimal temperature conditions.