| The quest for fusion power now dates back some fifty years. The early days were concerned mainly with fusion reactions and plasma physics. In recent years, attention has focused on the technological and engineering aspects of conceptual fusion reactor systems, towards the ultimate goal of commercial power plant. A key feature of these developments is the appreciation of the exacting demands placed on structural materials exposed to the hostile fusion radiation environment, and assessments of their impact on economic performance. A number of materials challenges relating to reactor components exposed to high dose 14MeV neutron irradiation at elevated temperatures require solution to enable economic fusion power to be realised. The long-term development of radiation resistant low activation materials, plasmafacing protection materials and heat sink alloys for magnetic confinement tokamak systems is outlined in this article.
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