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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.
Peter Yarsky
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 5 | May 2021 | Pages 653-664
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1800308
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff often performs confirmatory analysis to support regulatory decision making. In the current work the TRAC/RELAP Advanced Computational Engine (TRACE) code was used to study the transient system response for the NuScale power module to a beyond-design-basis event where the control rods fail to insert. The regulatory purpose of the current work was to confirm the results of analyses provided by the applicant as part of their probabilistic risk assessment analysis that demonstrates that the core is not damaged under certain conditions when the control rods fail to insert. The NRC staff performed calculations using a TRACE model of the NuScale power module that includes both the primary and secondary systems that simulates a loss of alternating-current power and complete failure of the module protection system to insert control rods. The NRC staff analyses demonstrate that under these conditions the reactor stabilizes at a new stable condition with minor power and pressure oscillations where core power is balanced by passive heat removal.