logoalt Hacker News

adrian_b11/07/20241 replyview on HN

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...


Replies

pas11/08/2024

How does the waste distribution and amount compare to fission reactors? (Pressure vessels, spent fuel rods, what else?)

If we need to to dump every 50 year a few thousand tons of steel into the old uranium mines that seems like a good deal, no?