Accidental and long-term safety assessment of fission and fusion power reactors

Fusion is seen as a much “cleaner” energy than fission, and a resource for clean energy in the far future. However, being a nuclear energy, fusion shares with fission most of its safety problems. This study concerns the assessment of both the short term and the long term hazards associated with fusion, compared with the same figures for fission reactors. For accidental release of radioactive nuclide, fission data derive from well-known PWR safety assessments, and in particular from the Italian project PUN. Fusion data derive from the latest findings of the European SEAFP programme. Concerning inadvertent intrusion in a radioactive waste disposal site: for fusion. this analysis was performed by the authors in the frame of the SEAFP-2 studies, while for fission data are taken from typical European waste disposal sites. Finally, for long-term migration of radioactive nuclides due to natural waste package degradation, both fission and fusion reactor cases are addressed. In all relevant cases, evaluation of associated risks is carried out, with a comparison of the obtained results.