Historical research guide · 0637 · 2014
The dynomak: An advanced spheromak reactor concept with imposed-dynamo current drive and next-generation nuclear power technologies
D.A. Sutherland · T.R. Jarboe · K.D. Morgan · M. Pfaff · E.S. Lavine · Y. Kamikawa · M. Hughes · P. Andrist · G. Marklin · B.A. Nelson
In one minute
Derek Sutherland, Thomas Jarboe and their University of Washington colleagues take the current-drive mechanism their group found on the HIT-SI experiment — imposed-dynamo current drive, in which steady injectors impose the fluctuations that push the plasma current instead of waiting for instabilities to make them — and build a whole power plant around it. The dynomak is a high-beta spheromak: a self-organised ring of plasma that holds its own magnetic shape, so it needs far less coil structure than a tokamak. The design uses materials available now, plus the cryogenic pumping developed for ITER. A molten FLiBe salt blanket cools the first wall, slows the neutrons and breeds tritium, and a Monte Carlo neutron transport calculation puts the breeding ratio above 1.1. High-temperature superconducting YBCO tape carries the equilibrium coils, cutting the power the plant must recirculate, and zirconium hydride shielding buys those coils at least thirty full-power years. From 2486 megawatts of heat comes 1000 megawatts of electricity, at a capital cost the authors estimate as competitive with conventional power.
Connection
Chapter 12 wants a fusion architecture someone can cost, build and run, and this is a complete one — plasma, blanket, magnets, shielding and power cycle, priced. For chapter 9 it is the payoff of the site’s interest in self-organised plasma: the same imposed-fluctuation trick that steers a plasmoid in the laboratory is here carried straight into a reactor.
From the source
A high-beta spheromak reactor concept has been formulated with an estimated overnight capital cost that is competitive with conventional power sources.Abstract, sentence 1
The concept is built on imposed-dynamo current drive, the mechanism discovered on the HIT-SI experiment, together with a molten salt FLiBe blanket system that serves at once as first-wall cooling, neutron moderator and tritium breeder.Abstract, sentence 2
Currently available materials and the cryogenic pumping systems developed for ITER were used throughout, on the basis of technological feasibility.Abstract, sentence 3
A tritium breeding ratio greater than 1.1 was calculated using an MCNP5 Monte Carlo neutron transport simulation.Abstract, sentence 4
High-temperature superconducting YBCO tapes were used for the equilibrium coil set, substantially reducing the recirculating power fraction compared with previous spheromak reactor studies; with zirconium hydride neutron shielding the limiting equilibrium coil lifetime reaches at least thirty full-power years.Abstract, sentences 5 and 6
Coupling the primary FLiBe loop to a supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle yields an electrical output of 1000 megawatts from a thermal output of 2486 megawatts, an overall plant efficiency of approximately 40 per cent.Abstract, final two sentences
The way in
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2014.03.072How to cite it
D.A. Sutherland, T.R. Jarboe, K.D. Morgan, M. Pfaff, E.S. Lavine, Y. Kamikawa, M. Hughes, P. Andrist, G. Marklin, B.A. Nelson (2014) The dynomak: An advanced spheromak reactor concept with imposed-dynamo current drive and next-generation nuclear power technologies doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2014.03.072