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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.
A. Itakura et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 1 | January 2005 | Pages 300-302
Technical Paper | Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A670
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fluctuation of electron density is observed by using a microwave reflectometry in the central cell of GAMMA 10 tandem mirror. An ultrashort-pulse train, whose pulse width is 65 ps, is transmitted into the plasma in the ordinary-wave mode and reflected at the cut-off layer. The reflected wave is detected by the receiving system, and its time-of-flight, i.e., round trip time, is measured. Fluctuation of the time-of-flight is fluctuation of the cutoff layer and it means density fluctuation. The pulse has a broad frequency spectrum, so each frequency component is reflected at different layer corresponding to its frequency. The frequency range of the receiving system is 7 to 11 GHz, and cut-off density ranges 0.61 to 1.5 × 1018 m-3. Density on the central axis of the plasma is about 2 × 1018 m-3. Radial intensity distribution of the fluctuation is observed without any perturbation. Frequency of the fluctuation is around several kHz.