29th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT 2016)

P2.194 Time-dependent power requirements for pulsed fusion reactors

6 Sep 2016, 14:20

1h 40m

Foyer 2A (2nd floor), 3A (3rd floor) (Prague Congress Centre)

Board: 194

Poster J. Power Plants Safety and Environment, Socio-Economics and Technology Transfer P2 Poster session

Speaker

James Morris (Power Plant Technology Group)

Description

The investigation of time-dependent power requirements for a future nuclear fusion reactor is part of the systems integration task for the European Fusion Programme. All fusion power plants, whether pulsed or steady-state, will require electrical power to operate the various plant systems. Over the entire pulse cycle reactor systems will require varying levels of power over different time periods. For example, the heating and current drive system will require power during start-up, burn and ramp down phases. A number of these systems will require power continuously and outside the pulse window, such as the vacuum systems or the superconducting toroidal field (TF) coils. This paper presents the recently updated modelling of these power requirements over the whole pulse cycle for all plant systems in the systems code PROCESS. For each system (and subsystem) the operational states are defined and the power required during each state estimated. Combining the systems and subsystems provides the overall energy usage at different times of the pulse cycle. The power requirements are summarised and the overall power generated versus power required is output. Having the systems code include this modelling in its optimisation is essential for determining the reactor power balance and overall viability of the fusion power plant.