Effect of activation cross-section uncertainties in selecting steels for the HYLIFE-II chamber to successful waste management

We perform the waste management assessment of the different types of steels proposed as structural material for the inertial fusion energy (IFE) HYLIFE-II concept. Both recycling options, hands-on (HoR) and remote (RR), are unacceptable. Regarding shallow land burial (SLB), 304SS has a very good performance, and both Cr–W ferritic steels (FS) and oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) FS are very likely to be acceptable. The only two impurity elements that question the possibility of obtaining reduced activation (RA) steels for SLB are niobium and molybdenum. The effect of activation cross-section uncertainties on SLB assessments is proved to be important. The necessary improvement of some tungsten and niobium cross-sections is justified.