Determining the Needs of a Fusion Pilot Plant

1. ARIES Pathways Study Kick-off Meeting PERSISTENT SURVEILLANCE FOR PIPELINE PROTECTION AND THREAT INTERDICTION Determining the Technology, Physics, Industrial and Organizational Needs of a Fusion Pilot Plant Ken Schultz 3 April 2007

2. Determining the Technology, Physics, Industrial and Organizational Needs of a Fusion Pilot Plant • Advisory Committee • Establishing Goals and Objectives (Design Requirements) • Determining specific metrics for performance

3. We will reconstitute an Advisory Committee • ARIES Utility Advisory Committee shaped the basic design requirements for fusion power plants in 1994. • Focused on commercial fusion power plants • Members from several utilities and EPRI • Many of those utilities and individuals are now gone • An Advisory Committee will be reconvened • Broaden the scope of membership to include vendors, architect-engineers, and regulators as well as utilities and EPRI • Focus on Demo and Pilot Plant

4. Advisory Committee Candidates • EPRI • Jack Kaslow • Utilities • Entergy - Steve Melançon • Southern California Edison - Loyd Wright • More?? • Architect-Engineers • Bechtel - Larry Papay • Washington Group International - Jadu Das • Shaw Stone & Webster - Reiner Kuhr • More? • Vendors • Westinghouse - Sam Harkness, Mario Carelli • General Electric - Eric Loewen • Areva - Finis Southworth, Bob Tilly • Regulators • NRC - Kent Welter • ACRS – Said Abdel-Khalik

5. Have an economically competitive life-cycle cost of electricity • Gain Public acceptance by having excellent safety and environmental characteristics • No disturbance of public’s day-to-day activities • No local or global atmospheric impact • No need for evacuation plan • No high-level waste • Ease of licensing • Reliable, available, and stable as an electrical power source • Have operational reliability and high availability • Closed, on-site fuel cycle • High fuel availability • Capable of partial load operation • Available in a range of unit sizes Fusion physics & technology Low-activation material Fundamental Requirements for Fusion Power Blanket and fuel cycle choices

6. Committee will focus on high level design requirements • Review requirements for commercial fusion power plants • ARIES-AT should be example of development goal • Define requirements for Fusion DEMO plant • Likely identical or very similar, except economics • Help in evaluation of which features must be demonstrated in a fusion pilot plant prior to DEMO • What features must be proven before a utility would invest in a DEMO? • Will test facilities satisfy this requirement? • This will help us define the design requirements of the pilot plant

7. Demonstration of DEMO features could be done in several facilities • ITER will demonstrate many key features • Non-nuclear test facilities may be adequate for some demonstrations • Fission reactor testing may satisfy some needs • A fusion materials test facility may be available • is it needed? • A pilot plant will be needed for everything else • Advanced tokamak physics • Power producing breeding blankets • Integration of physics and fusion technology • How little could be done in a pilot plant? • Would that be cost effective?

8. The testing needs will define the design requirements for the pilot plant • Plasma performance of the ARIES-AT tokamak • N • Non-inductive current drive • Power and particle management • High temperature heat recovery • Adequate component lifetime • Fuel management • Tritium breeding control • Plant operations • Plasma control • Reasonable availability that improves quickly

9. Systems studies will link design requirements to performance metrics for a pilot plant • Advanced tokamak physics will be required • N, current drive • Achievement of power performance parameters can be optimized • R, a, BT, Q to achieve needed  • Efficient power conversion is important, but probably not net power

10. ITER + test facilities + pilot plant must demonstrate the essential features needed for DEMO • Waste (class C or less) • Reliability and controlability • Maintenanability • Fuel cycle control • Safety • Licensibility • Partial power operation • Thermal efficiency • Power density • Cost that extrapolates to commercial

11. The ARIES Pathways study will define and then design a fusion pilot plant • Advisory committee will help define what the pilot plant must demonstrate • Design requirements to accomplish this will be developed • Systems analyses will determine the best way to meet these requirements

12. Important Task: Pick a good name • Fusion Pilot Plant – FPP • The Next Study – TNS • Experimental Power Reactor – EPR, ExPR • Experimental Power Reactor Tokamak - ExPRT • … • .. • .