Neutrons produced by nuclear fusion reactions introduce defects into the superconductors in the magnet system. This limits the lifetime of the magnet system, impeding economic viability. One approach to mitigate this effect is to increase the size of the reactor and strategically place shielding material in especially affected areas. Another one is thermally treating the magnet system during maintenance windows. The reported recovery with annealing [1], motivates further study into the interplay between the superconducting properties and specific defects and recovery of the former. Samples based on commercial coated conductors were pre-characterized and then irradiated with neutrons in a TRIGA Mark II reasearch reactor until the critical current degraded beyond the initial pristine value -- also referred as crossover disorder -- corresponding to a decrease of the critical temperature of up to \qty{8}{\kelvin}. In order to measure the resistance of the REBCO layer, the silver stabilizing layer was removed by chemical etching between the voltage contacts. The samples were then subjected to thermal treatment in pure oxygen atmosphere and two annealing procedures were devised. Isothermal annealing, where the annealing time was increased step by step, until no recovery of the critical temperature and critical current was observed. Additionally, continuous temperature sweeps up to \qty{400}{\celsius} were conducted on the etched samples during which the resistivity was measured in situ. This study compares features in the temperature dependence of the resistivity to predicted defect formation/recombination energies and mobilities. The respective recovery of the critical temperature are utilized in order to identify the defect species that are particularly harmful for the superconducting properties. Building on these results, we present the capabilities of neutron irradiated high temperature superconductors to recover, possibly extending the life of future compact fusion devices, which is an important foundation for the future design of fusion reactors. [1] Raphael Unterrainer et al 2022 Supercond. Sci. Technol. 35 04LT01