Carbon-14 Source Terms and Generation in Fusion Power Cores

摘要

A consecutive study of the source terms of ~(14)C as the major contributor to the external costs of fusion and its production rate was performed by system and neutron activation analysis. It shows that the specific ~(14)C activity induced in the low activation structural materials, coolants and breeders suggested for future fusion power reactor cores is significantly dependent upon the assumption for nitrogen content. The determined range of the specific ~(14)C activity ～2-20 TBq/GW(e)a induced by the near-term water-cooled, gas-cooled and advanced liquid lithium and lithium-lead self-cooled fusion power reactors is given in the paper regarding the values for natural ~(14)C background and artificial ~(14)C sources as fission power reactors and nuclear tests. It is definitely recommended to minimize the nitrogen content below 0.01 wt.% in the beryllium multipliers and in the structural materials, SiC/SiC composite including. Then due to environmental and waste disposal reasons the ~(14)C generation in fusion power blankets will have negligible impact on the cost.