The effect of materials selection on the passive safety of fusion reactors

Passive safety is a key issue for the public acceptance of fusion power. One of the most important safety considerations concerns the effects of the dissipation of decay afterheat from the structural materials under conditions of absence of any form of active cooling. These considerations, along with the waste issue, will constitute important criteria for the selection of the structural materials of a fusion reactor. Here, a simulation of a postaccidental temperature transient of the SEAFP reference reactor is performed for two candidate steels: MANET and AISI 316L and the vanadium alloy V-5Ti. Results demonstrate the clear advantage of the V-5Ti over MANET, as well as the nonconformity of AISI 316L. ((orig.))