> Don't fusion reactors have problems with vessel degradation from fast neutrons turning the reactors themselves into radioactive waste?
Yea and no. More neutrons per joule of output, but the waste is short-lived and easier to manage.
But also the neutron flux is so large that every atom will get knocked out of its lattice over the reactor lifetime, so the metallurgy is (I’m told by a metallurgist) complicated.
The most serious problem with fusion, though, is that coolant does not circulate through the reactor, but rather around it. This makes fusion reactors have much lower power density than fission reactors.
Yea and no. More neutrons per joule of output, but the waste is short-lived and easier to manage.
But also the neutron flux is so large that every atom will get knocked out of its lattice over the reactor lifetime, so the metallurgy is (I’m told by a metallurgist) complicated.