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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.
Dong Li, Rao Hao
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 2 | February 2022 | Pages 209-220
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.1968760
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To simulate the complex accident phenomena of a marine reactor, the thermal-hydraulic system code RELAP5 is modified to perform the analysis under ocean conditions. An integrated reactor with a passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) is modeled by the improved code, and the effects of different ocean motions under a total loss-of-flow accident (LOFA) and a loss-of-heat-sink (LOHS) accident are analyzed with respect to safety characteristics. The results indicate that for LOFA, the primary loop can form an effective natural circulation to cool the core, and for LOHS, the PRHRS can effectively remove the residual heat from the core to ensure the core safety. The results also show that heaving motion accelerates the drop of the first-loop temperature and enhances the heat transfer capacity of the PRHRS. Inclining motion reduces the natural circulation flow in the core. A rolling condition causes fluctuations in the mass flow rate, the variations of which are not strictly sinusoidal, and increasing the rolling period also improves the heat exchange capacity of the PRHRS.