Safety and environmental aspects of vanadium alloys

Abstract Two important safety-related and environmental aspects of vanadium alloys are considered; the early doses that could potentially be delivered at the plant site boundary in the event of an accidental release of first-wall material and the disposal and recycling options for expired first wall-blanket material. The reference alloys V-15Cr-5Ti and V-3Ti-lSi are found to lead to similar doses and these are roughly an order of magnitude below the dose from 316L steel. These alloys appear to be excellent candidates for multiple recycling via high-vacuum remelting/refining, with consequent reductions in the consumption of alloy and the quantities of waste requiring geological isolation. The doses from accidental releases are found to be independent of the number of usage cycles.