A comparison of the radiological impact of energy production by fission and fusion reactions

The impacts of respectively a light water reactor and a planned fusion reactor, for which tritium-deuterium fusion reactions will act as energy source have been compared. The comparison is made on the basis of a generated capacity of 1 GWe.year, using the following criteria: fuel inventories, radioactive releases, collective effective dose equivalent commitments to the public and the volume of wastes. The accidental risk is not introduced. Fusion reactor parameters are still subject to uncertainties, which prevent accurate quantification of radionuclide releases (tritium apart) from the nuclear plant. Only orders of magnitude extrapolated from values for the NET tokamak are given. Despite these uncertainties, it would seem more interesting, from the dosimetric point of view, to use fusion reactors to produce electricity, although problems of radioactive releases, handling and long-term storage of radioactive waste would remain. Fusion reactors also generate generate high-level wastes with long-term exposure rates that are lower than those of light water reactors