Consideration for the safety of a fusion power plant

Based on the fundamental approach for safety of ITER, a possible extension of it to assure the safety of fusion power plant was considered. Although the entire analysis and licensing preparation are specific for ITER, its methodology which takes full advantage of the inherent features of fusion is expected to be applied to the fundamental logic of fusion power plants. Both energy and radioactive source terms that could be potential hazards are typically operative for a number of days rather than for a year, as in the case of fission. The major differences from the test reactor ITER were identified as the power blanket, coolant loop, and a generator train that will hold high temperature and a considerable amount of tritium. It is anticipated that the tritium inventory and most of the tritium plant would essentially be same as those for ITER, tritium recovery and removal from the blanket loop will dominate the fusion power plant tritium systems. Such a tritium system will actively remove tritium at a daily throughput of the order of plant inventory. This feature suggests that no dedicated off-normal systems are needed to assure the safety of the fusion plant in terms of environmental tritium release. (author)