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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.
B. B. Cipiti, G. L. Kulcinski
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 1245-1249
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A858
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The D-3He fusion reaction has been used to produce medical radioisotopes using the University of Wisconsin Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) Fusion Device. The high-energy 14.7 MeV proton generated from the reaction can activate materials for isotope production. The traditional IEC setup has been altered to generate medical isotopes using beam-target D-3He fusion. Beam target D-3He reactions in a thin-walled, water-cooled, stainless steel tube were used to create 13N, an isotope used in Positron Emission Tomography. At a maximum ion energy of 85 keV, 1.0 nCi of 13N was created as a proof of principle experiment. A scaled-up version of this concept may provide for a smaller, less expensive radioisotope generator for future commercial needs.
