American Nuclear Society
Home

Home / Publications / Journals / Fusion Science and Technology / Volume 8 / Number 1P2B

A Calculational Methodology for Comparing the Accident, Occupational, and Waste-Disposal Hazards of Fusion Reactor Designs

Steve Fetter

Fusion Science and Technology / Volume 8 / Number 1P2B / July 1985 / Pages 1359-1366

Environment and Safety / Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) / dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39957

A methodology has been developed for calculating indices of three classes of radiological hazards: reactor accidents, occupational exposures, and waste-disposal hazards. Radionuclide inventories, biological hazard potentials (BHP), and various dose-related indices are calculated. In the case of reactor accidents, the critical, 50-year and chronic dose are computed, as well as the number of early deaths and illnesses and late cancer fatalities. For occupational exposure, the contact dose rate is calculated for several times after reactor shutdown. In the case of waste-disposal hazards, the intruder dose and the intruder hazard potential (IHP) are calculated. Sample calculations for the MARS reactor design show the usefulness of the methodology in exploring design improvements.