AbstractThe radioactive waste produced by an experiment D-T fusion reactor (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has been characterized. To provide a frame of reference, it has been compared to the waste produced by an experimental advanced fast fission reactor (Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II). ITER has a sixteen times higher thermal power output than EBR-II; however, each reactor represents approximately the minimum reactor size needed to establish the feasibility of its fuel cycle. Both reactors were assumed to operate on idealized self-sufficient closed fuel cycle, i.e. the actinides and the tritium generated during operation were considered as fuel and hence extracted from the remainder of the radioactive waste and recycled back to the reactor. Under this scheme, it is found that ITER will generate radioactive waste that is somewhat more hazardous in the long term than that generated by EBR-II.
Waste expectations of fusion steels under current waste repository criteria