Risks of working with fusion reactors

7.3.2014

Question for written answer E-002762-14
to the Commission
Rule 117
Angelika Werthmann (ALDE)

As is well known, fusion reactor technology also produces radioactivity.

1. In the Commission's opinion, what are the main differences with regard to safety between fusion reactors and nuclear fission power plants?

2. By comparison with a fission plant, how much radioactivity is produced by a fusion reactor of comparable size?

3. It would appear that neutron radiation, which is medically relevant and, accordingly, carcinogenic, is produced in a fusion reactor. What is the likely impact on individuals and the environment, compared with the scale of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, of a release of neutron radiation or of the radioactivity induced by it?

4. In the Commission's opinion, is the contamination radius following release of radiation or radioactivity from a fusion reactor likely to be similar to that following a comparable accident in a ‘conventional’ nuclear power plant?

OJ C 355, 08/10/2014