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Carbon-14 Source Terms and Generation in Fusion Power Cores

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Abstract

A consecutive study of the source terms of 14C as the major contributor to the external costs of fusion and its production rate was performed by system and neutron activation analysis. It shows that the specific 14C activity induced in the low activation structural materials, coolants and breeders suggested for future fusion power reactor cores is significantly dependent upon the assumption for nitrogen content. The determined range of the specific 14C activity ∼2–20 TBq/GW(e)a induced by the near-term water-cooled, gas-cooled and advanced liquid lithium and lithium–lead self-cooled fusion power reactors is given in the paper regarding the values for natural 14C background and artificial 14C sources as fission power reactors and nuclear tests. It is definitely recommended to minimize the nitrogen content below 0.01 wt.% in the beryllium multipliers and in the structural materials, SiC/SiC composite including. Then due to environmental and waste disposal reasons the 14C generation in fusion power blankets will have negligible impact on the cost.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to UKAEA and to Dr R. A. Forrest personally for the possibility to use EASY-2003 in the neutron induced activation calculations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nuclear Fusion Institute, RRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Moscow, Russia

    V. I. Khripunov, D. K. Kurbatov & M. L. Subbotin

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  1. V. I. Khripunov
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  2. D. K. Kurbatov
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  3. M. L. Subbotin
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Correspondence to V. I. Khripunov.

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Khripunov, V.I., Kurbatov, D.K. & Subbotin, M.L. Carbon-14 Source Terms and Generation in Fusion Power Cores. J Fusion Energ 27, 241–249 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-008-9145-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-008-9145-2

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