Socioeconomic Research on Fusion. Serf 1997-98

Tin this study the environmental externalisation produced in some stages of a hypothetical fusion power plant have been studied. The results are the CIEMAT contribution in the macro task named External costs and benefits of the Socioeconomic Research on Fusion (SERF 1997-98) European project. For the externalisation economical assessment the Externe methodology has been applied. Lauffen, sited in the SW of Germany has been selected as the hypothetical location of the power plant. The technology, for two different models, was described by Max Planck Institute and the externalisation of the materials manufacturing, power plant construction and operation as well as accidents have been monetarily evaluated. The obtained results revealed that for the plant model which uses cooling water, the prevalent cause of external costs were the collective doses produced by the global dispersion of 14C emissions. External costs produced by radiological accidents represent low values, however the preliminary assessment performed for the external impacts caused by the ingestion of contaminated food stuff and water, point out that a more detailed analysis for this stage, is needed. It should be noted that the results presented in this study, are partial values since other potentially important stages such as disposal of radiological waste and decommissioning of the power plant, have not been included. (Author) 30 refs