alt Hacker NewsThe radioactivity generated from neutron activation is low-level, so you don't need to worry about accidents releasing lots of radioactivity, or about how to store waste for a long time. There are a lot of people worrying about those two things for fission reactors.
Also, the fuel for fusion reactors is much more plentiful. If we went all in on fission we might run out of easily minable uranium ore in a century or so, so it would be nice to have fusion reactors ready to take over then.
The radioactivity generated from neutron activation is not at all low-level, because the neutron flux is huge, providing most of the energy generated by the fusion reactor.
The intense neutron flux will transmute a very high number of atoms, so when taken out of the reactor all materials are very highly radioactive.
What can be hoped is that there may be choices for the materials used in a fusion reactor that will ensure a short enough lifetime for the radioactive isotopes, so that the radioactivity of the contaminated materials will become low-level soon enough.
The studies that I have seen have the target that the radioactive waste produced by a fusion reactor should become low-level radioactive waste after one hundred years.
To reach this target, many commonly used structural materials, like many types of steel, must be completely avoided, e.g. any steel containing nickel, molybdenum or niobium. Even the carbon from steel is a problem, because the radioactivity of C14 will persist for thousands of years.
A smaller fraction of the materials, particularly from highly activated plasma facing and near plasma components, may fail to meet current low-level waste criteria even after one thousand years.
See e.g. the report:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61ae4caa8fa8f...