Mission and Readiness Assessment for Fusion Nuclear Facilities

Abstract

Magnetic fusion development toward DEMO will most likely require a number of fusion nuclear facilities (FNF)

Fusion nuclear science facilities and pilot plants based on the spherical tokamak

“…where η th = thermal conversion efficiency = / P P elec th , η aux = auxiliary power wall plug efficiency, P fus = total D-T fusion power, P aux = auxiliary power for heating and current-drive, / = Q P P fus aux , M n = neutron energy multiplication factor, P n and α P = neutron and alpha powers from fusion, = P th thermal power = + + α M P P P n n aux , P pump = coolant pumping power, P sub = subsystems power, P coils = power dissipated in normally conducting coils, and P control = power used in plasma or plant control not included in P aux . Equation (1) illustrates that the leading terms in the engineering efficiency Q eng involve a combination of technology and physics performance metrics. In particular, Q eng depends to leading order on the thermal conversion and auxiliary system wall-plug efficiencies (η th and η aux ) and the D-T fusion gain Q.…”

“…There are several possible pathways from successful demonstration of a burning plasma in ITER to a commercial power plant. These different pathways are influenced by the number of missions to be carried forward in the device(s) [1] following ITER. Such missions include: providing high neutron wall loading and fluence, demonstrating tritium selfsufficiency, and demonstrating electrical self-sufficiency.…”