This paper presents a critical analysis of the main factors of radiation damage limiting the possibility to use copper alloys in the ITER divertor and first wall structure. In copper alloys the most significant types of radiation damage in the proposed temperature-dose operation range are swelling, creep, and low-temperature radiation embrittlement. Low-temperature radiation embrittlement at T irr < 150°C presents considerable problems for dispersion strengthened (DS) and precipitation-hardened (PH) copper alloys, as their uniform elongation at T test ∼ T irr ∼ 100°C drops to ∼ 0.1% after irradiation doses of 0.01 to 0.1 dpa. At irradiation temperatures above 300°C, pronounced softening occurs in PH copper alloys due to radiation-enhanced precipitate coarsening and dislocation recovery and recrystallization processes. The DS copper alloys are relatively resistant to radiation-enhanced softening up to temperatures of ∼ 400°C. The analysis of all available data indicates that copper alloys are suitable for structural applications in ITER components within a relatively narrow temperature range of 180°C to 280°C for PH alloys such as CuCrZr and 180°C to 350°C for DS alloys such as oxide dispersion strengthened copper (e.g., GlidCop). Operation at lower temperatures is possible if uniform elongations < 1% can be tolerated in the design. Based on the available unirradiated and irradiated data, oxide dispersion strengthened copper (CuAl 2O 3) is considered to be the best candidate for high heat flux structural applications, followed by CuNiBe and CuCrZr.