Page 1 of 14 Reflections on the energy mission and goals of a fusion test reactor ARIES Design...

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Reflections on the energy mission and goals of a fusion test reactor

ARIES Design Brainstorming Workshop

24-25 April 2005

M. S. Tillack

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“ITER is the experimental step between today’s studies of plasma physics and

tomorrow’s electricity-producing fusion power plants” (www.iter.org)

Is this credible?

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Fusion energy development should be guided by requirements for a fusion

energy source No public evacuation plan is required

Generated waste can be returned to environment or recycled in less than a few hundred years (i.e., not geological time-scales)

No disturbance of public’s day-to-day activities

No exposure of workers to a higher risk than other power plants

Closed tritium fuel cycle on site

Ability to operate at partial load conditions (50% of full power)

Ability to efficiently maintain power core for acceptable plant availability

Ability to operate reliably with less than 0.1 major unscheduled shut-down per year

Above requirements must be achieved consistent with a competitive life-cycle cost-of-electricity goal.

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Existing and planned facilities fail to address essential features of a fusion energy source

Metricwaste 3 need to deal with it, but wrong materials

reliability 3 some machine operation, no fluence

maintenance 5 unprototypic construction, modules replaced

fuel 3 tritium handling, but no breeding, no cycle

safety 6 hazards are lower, and operations different

partial power 2

thermal efficiency 0 no power production, low temp., wrong materials

power density 5 somewhat low power density

cost 7 realistic 1st of a kind costs

ITER

Metricwaste 0 little relevance

reliability 1 some machine operation, no fluence

maintenance 1 experience moving tokamak equipment

fuel 1 Some tritium handling, no breeding, no cycle

safety 2 hazards much lower, operations much different

partial power 2

thermal efficiency 0 no power conversion

power density 1 low power handling required

cost 1 not relevant to a power plant

D3/JET

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Existing and planned facilities fail to address essential features of a fusion energy source

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ITER/FIRE

ARIES “next step”

Starlite

2010 2030 2050

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An experimental power reactor is needed to establish the credibility of

fusion as a competitive ENERGY SOURCE

Essential features: Power plant relevant materials Full nuclear operations Reasonable lifetime fluence (1-10 MW-yr/m2) Closed fuel cycle operation Etc Fill these in… Etc

Parameters do not need to replicate a power plant; rather, the device should be optimized to meet the requirements of a device on the pathway to a power plant.

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Our study should emphasize holistic R&D needs and their design implications

Holistic : relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts.

Plasma

Blankets

Divertors

Magnets

Vacuum vessel

Power management

Reactor control

Fuel management

Maintenance

Safety

Waste

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Examples of holistic issues for system studies of experimental power reactors

Thermal power management: Demonstrate divertor power

and particle handling, extraction of power core high-grade heat, nuclear performance of ancillary equipment (rf, magnets, etc.)

Fuel management: Demonstrate “birth to death” tritium management in a closed loop with self-sufficient breeding.

Safety: Demonstrate public and worker safety of the integral facility, capturing system to system interactions.

Plant operations: Establish the operability of a fusion energy facility, reliability of components, inspectability and maintainability of a power plant relevant tokamak.

Flexibility: Explore alternative operating modes and power core technologies with high duty cycle, but flexible operations.

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Thermal power management: Demonstrate divertor power and particle handling, extraction of power core high-grade heat, nuclear performance of ancillary equipment (rf, magnets, etc.)

1-frad,div

Pfusion

Pneutron

P

Divertor

First wall

Prad,chamb

Pdiv

80%

20%

Pcond

Prad,div

frad,core

1-frad,core

frad,div

Fdiv,peak

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Fuel management: Demonstrate “birth to death” tritium management in a closed loop with self-sufficient breeding.

inventory

pumps

breeder

coolant

breeder processing

coolant processing

vacuum processing

fueling

D+T

D+T+

n

TFuelprocessing

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Plant operations: Establish the operability of a fusion energy facility, reliability of components, inspectability and maintainability of a power plant relevant tokamak.

If power plant blankets can be replaced in 1-2 months, then a test reactor blanket should be replaceable too.

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Challenges for an ARIES interface with domestic energy R&D programs

The US is not actively pursuing energy technologies for fusion.

EU and Japan have serious technology programs; coordination between ARIES and international activities (including the “ITER broad approach”) will be essential.

R&DR&D needs

Design

This part is absent

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Summary

The time is right to explore remaining facilities on the path to fusion energy

ARIES is accepted as an appropriate venue to explore fusion energy, even in an era emphasizing “basic science”.

Any device on the path to fusion energy should advance features that lead to a commercially attractive end product.

A strength of the ARIES team is our integrated “holistic” approach to design studies. Key device features and mission elements should reflect overarching goals of fusion energy.

The mission should complement existing and planned facilities, including consideration of the “ITER broad approach”

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