Radiation damage: the second most serious obstacle to commercialization of fusion power

The uniqueness of radiation damage associated with 14 MeV neutrons is discussed in relation to total displacements per atom (dpa), dpa rate, gas production rate, gas to dpa ratio, and solid transmutation products. Comparisons are made with both light water and fast reactors to illustrate that it will be very difficult to use the latter facilities to provide information about high power fusion reactors. The one exception to this statement pertains to 316 SS in thermal reactors where the proper helium gas generation rate is achieved. Examination of the displacement and transmutation damage with respect to the dimensional, mechanical and physical properties of metals reveals that there is very little, if any pertinent experimental data available. Providing this data will require a massive and time consuming test program that could spread over a decade or more. Considering the shear number of radiation damage problems and their magnitude leads one to believe that their solution will be a major barrier to the commercialization of fusion power, second only to those problems associated with plasma physics