You're right, I was curious about capturing the fusion products in some way and still being able to extract useful energy.
I looked up the effects of neutron radiation on materials[]. Sounds like a hell of an engineering challenge to come up with a robust way of getting that energy out!
Radiation damage to materials occurs as a result of the interaction of a [neutron] with a lattice atom in the material. The collision causes a massive transfer of kinetic energy to the lattice atom, which is displaced from its lattice site, becoming what is known as the primary knock-on atom (PKA). [...] The magnitude of the damage is such that a single 1 MeV neutron creating a PKA in an iron lattice produces approximately 1,100 Frenkel pairs.
Yep. And anything touched by the neutron flux would become radioactive if it captures neutrons. For example steel, normal steel contains carbon, carbon captures neutrons, so the steel becomes radioactive, and also brittle. And then you need wiring and insulation and coolant and pumps and all that.
I looked up the effects of neutron radiation on materials[]. Sounds like a hell of an engineering challenge to come up with a robust way of getting that energy out!
Radiation damage to materials occurs as a result of the interaction of a [neutron] with a lattice atom in the material. The collision causes a massive transfer of kinetic energy to the lattice atom, which is displaced from its lattice site, becoming what is known as the primary knock-on atom (PKA). [...] The magnitude of the damage is such that a single 1 MeV neutron creating a PKA in an iron lattice produces approximately 1,100 Frenkel pairs.
[] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_radiation