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e-Article

System Code Analysis of HELIAS-Type Fusion Reactor and Economic Comparison With Tokamaks
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on. 44(9):1576-1585 Sep, 2016
Subject
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Fields, Waves and Electromagnetics
Tokamaks
Inductors
Power generation
Physics
Cooling
Biological system modeling
Helical-axis advanced stellarator (HELIAS)
PROCESS
system code
tokamak–stellarator comparison
Language
ISSN
0093-3813
1939-9375
Abstract
System codes are commonly employed for the analysis and conceptual design of fusion reactors. For the helical-axis advanced stellarator (HELIAS) line, a new set of system code models have been developed to account for the stellarator-specific 3-D aspects. The models have recently been implemented in the systems code PROCESS and verified with respect to different test cases. After having established confidence in the stellarator models, system studies were carried out for the five-field-period HELIAS case to define the accessible reactor design window. In the multidimensional physics and engineering parameter space, sensitivity studies are carried out for the reactor regime to ascertain tradeoffs between different parameters and costs. Exemplary design points are analyzed in more detail using the plasma operation contour approach, which, for example, can be used to determine the optimum start-up path to ignition. Finally, with a common set of nondevice-specific models, the PROCESS framework allows a direct comparison of tokamaks and stellarators. Although the five-period HELIAS is a larger machine in terms of major radius, the required mass for both concepts is comparable leading to similar construction costs.