Heat exhaust in fusion reactors and its impact on the sustainability of fusion electricity

Abstract

This contribution presents a didactic overview of the sustainability of nuclear fusion as a source for electricity production. A comparison with traditional means of electricity generation will be carried out, especially regarding waste production. Particular attention will be focused on the lifetime of components in a fusion reactor, since this engineering parameter determines directly the environmental and economic sustainability. Finally, the impact of heat exhaust components, which is the field of expertise of the authors, on waste production will be assessed and the most active research activities aimed to enhance the performance and lifetime of these components will be summarized.

Conceptual design of a water-cooled first wall component for a tokamak machine

“…DEMO will be the first fusion device to deliver electricity to the grid. Among other aims, DEMO should prove the economic feasibility of a fusion power plant, hence it is mandatory to limit the amount of waste [8] and minimize the substitution of components. Neutron resilient materials shall be developed in order to increase the lifetime of PFCs, particularly regarding the first wall that will be intensively bombarded by the high-energy fusion neutrons emitted EPJ Web of Conferences 268, 00012 (2022) LNES 2021 https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202226800012 by the plasma [9].…”