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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.
Masayoshi Sugimoto, Alan B. Smith, Peter T. Guenther
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 97 | Number 3 | November 1987 | Pages 235-238
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE87-A23505
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The prompt fission neutron spectrum resulting from 239Pu fission induced by ∼0.55-MeV incident neutrons is measured from 1.0 to 10.0 MeV relative to that of 235U fission induced by the same incident energy neutrons. The measurements employ the time-of-flight technique. Energy-dependent ratios of the two spectra are deduced from the measured values. The experimentally derived ratio results are compared with those calculated from ENDF/B-V (revision 2) and with results of recent microscopic measurements. Using the ENDF/B-V 235U Watt parameters for the 235U spectrum, the experimental measurements imply a ratio of average fission spectrum energies of 239Pu/235U = 1.045 ± 0.003, compared to the value 1.046 calculated from ENDF/B-V (revision 2).