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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.
Alex Pegarkov, Shawn Somers-Neal, Edgar Matida, Vinh Tang, Tarik Kaya
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 10 | October 2022 | Pages 1161-1171
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2067738
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During a severe power reactor accident, the plant core can melt. The resulting mixture of molten nuclear fuel and other in-core materials is known as corium. For a Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactor, the corium is expected to settle at the bottom of the calandria vessel, but there is a potential for some melt to flow through connecting piping and other penetrations. The flow of corium through these structures can be contained if melt solidification and thus plugging occur. A numerical model was created to simulate the flow of molten metal through an empty vertical pipe. This model was benchmarked to a previous analytical model and validated against experimental results with gallium metal (which is a metal with low melting temperature) as an alternative for corium. The numerical model predicted the penetration length of gallium with an average percent error of 10.3% when compared to the experimental penetration length results of gallium. The model was also updated to predict the corium penetration length in cooling pipes of the CANDU reactor during a severe accident.