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From: els@CSvax:Pucc-H:pur-phy.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re: Nuclear Fusion
Message-ID: <1021@pur-phy.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Sep-83 10:18:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: pur-phy.1021
Posted: Tue Sep 27 10:18:32 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Sep-83 03:16:37 EDT
References: <597@purdue.UUCP>
Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., W. Lafayette, IN
Lines: 27


     Nuclear fusion does indeed leave a form of radioactive waste.
Neutron activation will leave the reactor core in a fairly high
state of radioactivity.  In a large reactor which will be used over
many years, this isn't much of a problem.  However, some companies
have expressed plans to build lots of little reactors that are
expected to 'burn out'(i.e. have the magnetic field windings fail)
in less than a year.  If these reactors can be mass produced, it will
be cheaper to just use them, recycle some of the materials, and throw
the rest away!!  While these cores won't be nearly as hot as a fission
core, they will still need to be isolated from the environment.
Current thinking is that the can be encased in concrete and dropped
into an old mine.  In spite of this, it should be realized that, even
getting rid of old fusion cores represents a waste problem that is
orders of magnitude smaller than the problem of fusion waste.

      By the way, the same guy who designed that 'throwaway' tokamak
also says that once fusion has progressed to hotter(thermally) reactions,
that fission and toxic chemical waste could be dumped into one of these
fusion reactors.  The neutrons from the fusion would break high-level
radioactive waste into its low-level decay products(thereby eliminating
the storage problem) and the chemical waste (usually complex molecules)
would be broken down to its constituent atoms.  Neat, huh?


                            els[Eric Strobel]
                            pur-ee!pur-phy!els