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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.
J. N. Brooks et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 669-677
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Divertor and Plasma-Facing Components | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A763
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The US Advanced Limiter-divertor Plasma-facing Systems (ALPS) program is developing the science of liquid metal surface divertors for near and long term tokamaks. These systems may help solve the demanding heat removal, particle removal, and erosion issues of fusion plasma/surface interactions. ALPS combines tokamak experiments, lab experiments, and modeling. We are designing both static and flowing liquid lithium divertors for the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) at Princeton. We are also studying tin, gallium, and tin-lithium systems. Results to date are extensive and generally encouraging, e.g., showing: 1) good tokamak performance with a liquid Li limiter, 2) high D pumping in Li and non-zero He/Li pumping, 3) well-characterized temperature-dependent liquid metal surface composition and sputter yield data, 4) predicted stable low-recycle improved-plasma NSTX-Li performance, 5) high temperature capability Sn or Ga potential with reduced ELM & disruption response concerns. In the MHD area, analysis predicts good NSTX static Li performance, with dynamic systems being evaluated.
