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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.
Steven J. Zinkle
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 821-828
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Fusion Materials | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A788
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Highlights of recent U.S. fusion materials research activities are summarized, including multiscale materials modeling and experimental results. Recent first principles atomistic calculations on vanadium and iron-helium have found that previous interatomic potentials incorrectly predict several important point defect properties. Molecular dynamics simulations of displacement cascades are now approaching energies equivalent to 14 MeV fusion neutrons. Considerable effort is being devoted to understanding the fundamental mechanisms of low temperature radiation hardening and embrittlement. Work is also in progress to determine the allowable temperature and dose operating regimes for candidate reduced activation structural materials (including transmutant helium effects). New compositions of reduced activation steels and vanadium alloys with potential for significantly improved properties are being investigated. Due to recent improvements in SiC/SiC ceramic composites, engineering-relevant mechanical property tests are being introduced to replace historical qualitative screening tests. Materials research in support of the ITER burning plasma physics machine is briefly described.