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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.
E. G. Vovkivsky, A. Yu. Chirkov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 81 | Number 8 | November 2025 | Pages 848-857
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2025.2454130
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To analyze the energy balance, the range of optimal parameters of the quasistationary burn phase of p-11B plasma is assessed under conditions of fuel refill and external energy supply. The reaction rate parameter is determined considering the difference in the macroscopic velocities of the fuel components. An increase in the corresponding relative energy from 0 to 100 keV leads to an increase in the plasma power gain Q by a factor of 3. Regimes with Q ≈ 5 correspond to npτ ~ 1021 m–3s, where np is the proton density and τ is the confinement time. These conditions are close to optimum from the point of view of the fuel burnout rate, energy transfer to plasma from the generated high-energy alpha particles, and bremsstrahlung losses associated with their accumulation in the plasma. Also, to assess the influence of the content of alpha particles, a mode with a reduced confinement time of alpha particles is considered. In such a mode Q > 5 can be achieved.