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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.
Teruhisa Takamatsu et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 1290-1294
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A867
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A magnetron discharge as a built-in ion source have studied both experimentally and numerically for a compact discharge-type fusion neutron source called IECF (Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion). With this magnetron discharge, ions are produced in the vicinity of the vacuum chamber (anode) at negative electric potential. Therefore, produced ions are expected to have nearly full energy corresponding to the applied voltage to the IECF cathode but slightly smaller energy preventing them from hitting the anode of the opposite end, eventually improving both fusion reaction rate and ion recirculation life. Also, the magnetron ion source was found to produce ample ion current for maintenance of the discharge. With the optimization of the configuration of the magnetron discharge, further improvement of the fusion reaction rate is found feasible.