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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.
Adam G. Nelson, Nicolas Martin, Alisha Kasam-Griffith, Zhiwen Xu, Florent Heidet
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 1 | October 2022 | Pages S63-S70
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2035181
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) is being developed to provide a flexible source of neutrons for the accelerated testing of materials. To support this flexibility, the design must be informed by uncertainty assessment that defensibly provides the needed margin. This paper provides an overview of the VTR Program’s approach to the generation and application of uncertainties in the reactor core design process as it relates to this goal. As the uncertainty assessment is still in progress, this paper not only provides an example of how uncertainty has been factored into the early stages of design but also provides findings from sensitivity studies that will form the basis of future uncertainty work.