Low activation materials

Low or reduced activation materials are currently bring developed and evalu ated as structural materials for fusion energy systems. The goal of develop ing low activation materials is to provide fusion energy systems with a com petitive edge over fission energy systems where high level waste issues abo und. The primary low activation materials being developed by the internatio nal fusion materials community are: (1) ferritic/martensitic steels, (2) va nadium alloys and (3) SiC/SiC composites. These three materials offer a ran ge of temperature and coolant design options and would likely be the optimu m choices even without a low activation criteria. However, there are a numb er of activation, safety acid disposal issues that must be solved to achiev e an optimum blanket design. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.