Contribution of activation products to fusion accident risk. I - A preliminary investigation

The health hazards of activation products from fusion-reactor accidents are dealt with in a study on an early conceptual tokamak reactor, using a simple consequence model based on that of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Reactor Safety Study (the Rasmussen Report) in order to determine conceivable radiation doses near the plant boundary. Though tritium releases appear to result in fewer casualties than those predicted for the most severe accidents in fission reactors of similar electrical-generating capacity, the boundary doses of stainless-steel and molybdenum structures subject to massive lithium fires are comparable to the doses similarly calculated for 'worst case' light water reactor accidents. Calculations and tables are given for major activation products, their stored energy and their boundary doses in severe fusion and fission accidents. Remedies are suggested for greatly reducing the potential for activation product release from fusion reactors, such as the use of low activation materials, the reduction of stored energy by putting lithium in relatively non-reactive form and the use of deuterium-deuterium instead of D-T reactions.