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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.
George Tsotridis
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 198-208
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A64
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Plasma-facing components in tokamak-type fusion reactors are subjected to intense heat loads during plasma disruptions, causing melting and evaporation of the metallic surface layer. Simultaneously, large eddy currents are induced in the plasma-facing components, which interact with the large background magnetic field, hence producing substantial electromagnetic loads that have a strong influence on component integrity and lifetime. The depths and shapes of the molten layers of pure tungsten metal, which are produced when a high heat load strikes the surface of the material during a plasma disruption under the simultaneous influence of external body forces arising from electromagnetic fields, were studied by using a two-dimensional transient computer program that solves the equations of continuity, momentum, and energy, with monotonically varying external body forces. It is demonstrated that external body forces, having an outward direction from the plane of the test piece and with different gradients with respect to the radial direction, influence the shapes and depths of molten layers to a significant extent. Results are presented for a range of energy densities, disruption times, and gradients of linearly varying external body forces.