Yes.<p>They are also a major source of excess energy once the reaction becomes self sufficient. Capture the high-energy neutrons in a suitable material and it heats up. Use heat exchangers to run turbines, produce electricity.<p>If you read up on fusion energy, you&#x27;ll soon encounter the note that fusion reactor waste is short-lived and therefore easier to manage + store than fission reactor waste. The material used to capture neutrons is transmuted to radioactive isotopes, but due to the choice of materials* used the half-life of those isotopes is pretty low.<p>Yes, it also means that the fusion reactor waste is more energetic and more active radiation source than fission waste. But because it&#x27;s going to become safe in just a couple of hundred years, it causes much less of a headache in terms of storage.<p>*: We don&#x27;t necessarily know what the radioactive isotopes will be. I think the jury and researchers are still out on that one but I dare say it&#x27;s guaranteed that the neutron absorbent will NOT be uranium or radium.