Fusion pilot plant performance and the role of a sustained high power density tokamak
J. Ménard, B. A. Grierson, T. Brown, Chirag Rana, Yuhu Zhai, F. M. Poli, R. Maingi, W. Guttenfelder, P.B. Snyder
Abstract
Abstract Recent U.S. fusion development strategy reports all recommend that the U.S. should pursue innovative science and technology to enable construction of a fusion pilot plant (FPP) that produces net electricity from fusion at low capital cost. Compact tokamaks have been proposed as a means of potentially reducing the capital cost of a FPP. However, compact steady-state tokamak FPPs face the challenge of integrating a high fraction of self-driven current with high core confinement, plasma pressure, and high divertor parallel heat flux. This integration is sufficiently challenging that a dedicated sustained-high-power-density (SHPD) tokamak facility is proposed by the U.S. community as the optimal way to close this integration gap. Performance projections for the steady-state tokamak FPP regime are presented and a preliminary SHPD device with substantial flexibility in lower aspect ratio ( A = 2–2.5), shaping, and divertor configuration to narrow gaps to an FPP is described.