Magnetic Confinement Fusion—Plasma Theory: Heating and Current Drive

Dümont, R.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-819725-7.00073-8

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

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“…A single heating system was considered in this analysis for simplification although electron cyclotron heating (ECH) could also be used in conjunction with NNBI, provided that gyrotrons of sufficiently high power and frequency can be developed to operate in high magnetic field environments (10 T and above) [70]. Other heating systems such as ion cyclotron heating (ICH), heating by lower hybrid (LH) waves, or helicon heating were not considered due to the complex plasma boundary shape of stellarators, the reduced need for current drive, or their lower technology readiness level [8,19,71,72].…”

Section: Heatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economically optimized design point of high-field stellarator power-plant

Prost,

Volpe

2024

Nucl. Fusion

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High Temperature Superconductors expand the design space of stellarator power-plants toward high magnetic fields B, enabling compact major radii $R$. The present paper scans the space of B, R and other design parameters, finding solutions that are promising from a physics and engineering standpoint, while minimizing the capital cost of the power-plant and the levelized cost of fusion electricity. Similarly, it identifies minimum-cost design points for next-step burning plasma stellarator experiments of fusion gain 1 < Q < 10. The study assumes advanced stellarator configurations of reduced aspect ratio, heated by Neutral Beam Injection. Plasma-facing, flowing liquid metal walls protect it from high heat and neutron fluxes. The study relies on analytical first-principle calculations, and established zero-dimensional empirical scaling laws. Power flows are illustrated by Sankey diagrams. Plasma operating contours are used to determine the reactor’s start-up path. Sensitivity analyses are conducted to identify the most critical reactor parameters within physics, engineering and costing, quantifying their influence on the economics of the power plants. Such 0D study suggests that the assumed next generation HTS, flowing liquid metal walls, and advances in compact plasma configurations could lead to an ignited stellarator power-plant of aspect ratio A ~ 4, R ≤ 4 m, B > 9 T, and normalized plasma pressure β ~ 5 % would minimize both the cost of electricity and capital cost while achieving a net electric power of about 1 GW.

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