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RIC panel discusses pathway to fusion commercialization
Fusion leaders at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual Regulatory Information Conference discussed the path forward for regulating the burgeoning fusion industry. The speakers discussed government and private industry initiatives in the United States and United Kingdom, with a focus on efforts shaping the near-term deployment of commercial fusion machines.
A recurring theme was the need to explain the difference between fission and fusion. Representatives from the Department of Energy and Type One Energy highlighted this as an important distinction for regulators, as it will allow fusion to undergo its own independent maturation process for developing standards and regulations in the same way that fission has. Lea Perlas, Fusion Program director at the Virginia Department of Health, said that confusion between fission and fusion has been a common cause for misplaced concerns among community members surrounding Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ proposed fusion plant site near Richmond, Va.
Jungchung Jung
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 3 | November 1983 | Pages 566-585
Special Section Contents | Radioactivation of Fusion Structures | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22808
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Activation analysis has been conducted for several primary fusion blanket materials based on a model of a commercial tokamak fusion reactor design, STARFIRE. The blanket materials studied include two solid tritium breeders, viz., Li20 and α-LiAl02, and four candidate structural materials, viz., PCA stainless steel, V15Cr5Ti, Ti6Al4V, and Al-6063 alloys. The importance of breeder material activation is identified in terms of its impurity contents such as potassium, iron, nickel, molybdenum, and zirconium trace elements. The breeder activation is also discussed with regard to its potential for recycling and its impact on the lithium resource requirements. The structural material activation is analyzed based on two measures, volumetric radioactivity concentration and contact biological dose due to decay gamma emission. Using the radioactivity concentration measure, it is revealed that a substantial advantage exists from a viewpoint of radwaste management, which is inherent in fusion reactor designs based on potential low-activation alloys such as V15Cr5Ti, Ti6Al4V, and Al-6063. On the other hand, from the dose standpoint, the V15Cr5Ti alloy is found to be the only alloy for which one could realize a significant dose reduction (below 2.5 mrem/h) within ∼100 yr after shutdown, possibly by some extrapolation on alloy purification techniques.
