The need for a continuing role of fission reactor irradiation studies in the fusion materials program

The international fusion materials community is currently in the process of defining the need for a high energy neutron source for fusion materials studies. Although the specific design has not yet been selected, it is obvious that the active volume at high neutron flux will be sufficient to test only critical materials and properties. In this paper it is proposed that future fusion materials programs will require a balance between irradiation experiments conducted in the high energy source facility and supporting experiments in both fast and thermal reactors. Using experience gained in on-going and previous reactor studies, guidelines are proposed for selection of the types of studies to be conducted in the different facilities