Nuclear safety aspects on the road towards fusion energy

Abstract

On the road toward fusion energy, ITER is the first fusion facility which will have enough radioactive inventory to be potentially dangerous for the public and the environment. As such, ITER has a licensed nuclear facility status and its operator, ITER Organization, has to define technical, organizational and human provisions such as to prevent or adequately limit the risks of accidents as well as the disadvantages (exposure to ionizing radiation, environmental releases and waste) that the facility presents.All the facilities which will be created after ITER, in order to develop fusion energy (DEMO…) then to use it (PROTO…), will clearly also be facilities for which the nuclear safety aspects will have to be taken into account. This paper describes the safety characteristics of fusion facilities, the state of progress of the ITER safety demonstration regarding these characteristics and their possible evolutions for the facilities succeeding ITER on the road to fusion energy.