Recycling and Waste

The assessment effort concerned required evaluation of various relevant properties of vanadium alloys. The outcome predictably shows that these properties, as well as timing, funding, manufacturing and licensing aspects, each set their own specific boundary conditions for application of these alloys in ITER. Some of these are not really felt as constraints. Their capacity to accommodate high heat loads, for example, is better than other candidate materials and appears to be the main reason for the present interest in these alloys. Other favourable properties include neutronic properties (low nuclear heating rates, good tritium breeding performance and low helium generation rates), intrinsically low activation, excellent tensile and creep properties up to high temperatures and high strength-to-density ratio. Not all of these properties necessarily are relevant for ITER, but they would be important for longer term application.