Electrical Energy Requirements for Accelerator and Fusion Neutrons

The electrical energy requirements and costs of accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW) and fusion plants designed to transmute nuclides of fission wastes are compared. Both systems use the same blanket concept, but tritium breeding is taken into account for the fusion system. The ATW and fusion plants are found to have the same electrical energy requirement per available blanket neutron when the blanket coverage is comparable and the fusion energy gain is near breakeven (Q [approximately equal to] 1), but the fusion plant has only a fraction of the energy requirement when Q >> 1. If the blanket thermal energy is converted to electricity, the fusion plant and ATW have comparable net electrical energy outputs per available neutron when Q 1.5 and the blanket neutron multiplication is large.