Towards harmonisation in licensing of future nuclear power technologies in Europe: D1.6 – Assessment of the safety cases of large fusion facilities

The objective of the licensing process is to ensure low potential risks for the workers, public and environment from the operation of fusion power plants. Efficient licensing process requires mature design and a nuclear safety regulator with an established clear regulatory framework based on technology neutral requirements and if needed potentially also supported with the technology specific requirements.
A regulatory framework for licensing future fusion power plants has yet to be formulated. The work presented identifies opportunities for efficient and harmonized licensing process of future fusion power plants based on reviewing the existing safety case documentation of fusion facilities at different lifetime phases.
The IAEA GSR Part 4 (Safety Assessment for Facilities and Activities) publication was selected for defining the review framework of the documents portraying the status of the ITER, DEMO (DEMOnstration Power Plant) and W7-X (Wendelstein 7-X) facilities. The ITER fusion experimental facility and the DEMO fusion demonstration reactor represent consecutives steps towards a future fusion power plant and are considered nuclear facilities in need of an authorization. The ITER design received authorization from the French regulatory body based on its preliminary safety report and it is currently under construction. The DEMO facility is undergoing its conceptualization phase and thus only a generic, under development, site safety report is available. On the other hand, the W7-X fusion experimental facility is already operating and has been licensed as a radiation source by the German regulatory body.
The reviews regarding the ITER and DEMO facilities are primarily limited by the information available within the safety cases. Consequently, based on the review of the safety cases, the assessment was performed from the licensing process point-of-view by answering three main questions:
• What are the important outcomes that ought to be considered in the future licensing process of fusion power plants?
Four recommendations were formulated with respect to the harmonized regulatory framework, harmonized licensing path, harmonized safety case documentation and generic design approval process
• What improvements could be introduced in the future licensing process of future fusion power plants?
Six recommendations were made with respect to the definition of the fundamental safety functions and plant states, consideration of basic design principles as well as classification and qualification of provisions
• What R&D tasks are needed to support the future licensing process of fusion power plants?
Seven recommendations were introduced in support of first-of-a-kind fusion technologies by considering improvements as a result of mature technology, codes and standards, availability of operating experiences and improvements of tools and data for performing safety analysis
The recommendations and observations listed may be employed to fill the identified gaps in the harmonisation of the licensing process of future fusion power plants.