핵융합 시설에서 방사성 폐기물 관리 개요: ITER, 시연기계 및 발전소 (Overview on the management of radioactive waste from fusion facilities: ITER, demonstration machines and power plants)
본 보고서는 핵 융합 시설에서 발생하는 방사성 폐기물의 관리 방법을 소개하고 있습니다.
Nuclear fusion facilities, such as ITER (an experimental facility under construction in France), DEMO (the next-step facility after ITER), Pilot plant, and future fusion power plants need to be licensed. This is due to the intensity of the 14 MeV neutron flux produced, the remarkable inventory of tritium and the large inventory of radioactive materials activated in the fusion power core and externals [1]. The licensing process implies, in a similar fashion to fission nuclear power plants (NPPs):
The dominant fusion wastes are primarily composed of structural materials, such as different types of steel, including reduced activation ferritic martensitic steels, such as EUROFER97 and F82H, AISI 316L, bainitic, and JK2LB. The relevant long-lived radioisotopes come from alloying elements, such as niobium, molybdenum, nickel, carbon, nitrogen, copper and aluminum and also from uncontrolled impurities (of the same elements, but also, e.g. of potassium and cobalt). After irradiation, these isotopes might preclude disposal in LLW repositories. Fusion power should be able to avoid creating high-level waste, while the volume of fusion ILW and LLW will be significant, both in terms of pure volume and volume per unit of electricity produced. Thus, efforts to recycle and clear are essential to support fusion deployment, reclaim resources (through less ore mining) and minimize the radwaste burden for future generations.