Fusion reactors activate their structure and can leak tritium gas which is a nuclear contaminant.

Any fusion practical designs will require a liquid lithium cooling blanket that will breed the necessary quantities of tritium. They therefore share the weakness of other metal-cooled fast breeder reactors, which have proven exceptionally difficult to operate, since the highly reactive coolant will catch fire or explode upon contact with water or air.

Since the coolant is radiologically active, any such 'nuclear' incident will be regarded by the press and population just as bad as the Monju issues or the Superphenix.

https://www.power-technology.com/features/featurescrapping-m...