Nousheen Nawal Hanni Lux Member IEEE Rhian Chapman James R. Cowan Member APM
Being a novel technology, estimating costs for fusion power plants comes with large uncertainties. Cost uncertainties in prototypes arise from various sources and reduce with programme maturity (including the selection of a site), technical and design maturity, maturity of the commercial strategy (e.g., make vs. buy decisions, partnering de…
PreprintP Methven
This paper sets the context for those that follow in this Special Edition by describing why STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) has been launched, what it aims to achieve (benefits) and, principally, how the whole programme will be delivered (strategy). The paper draws on work on major project delivery and organisation design and ap…
PreprintS. Chen N. Correa Villanueva S. Kirk S. Capp O. Fordham A. Reeves S. Jones R. Khan A. Sergi C. Thompson
During development of the UKAEA’S Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), assessment of manufacturing strategies for the inboard shield identified several gaps in knowledge. Limits arose from the modularization of this component, geometric constraints of tungsten ceramic forming, joining with low-activation interlayers and dissimilar j…
PreprintR. W. Eardley A. J. Dubas A. Davis
While substantial research effort has been made recently in the development of computational liquid-metal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) solvers, this has typically been confined to closed-source and commercial codes. This work aimed to investigate some open-source alternatives. Two OpenFOAM-based MHD solvers, mhdFoam and epotFoam, were found to sho…
PreprintM. Giacomin D. Kennedy C. J. Ajay D. Dickinson B. S. Patel C. M. Roach
In this work, we present the results of first-of-their-kind nonlinear local gyrokinetic simulations of electromagnetic turbulence at mid-radius in the burning plasma phase of the conceptual high-β, reactor-scale, tight-aspect-ratio tokamak STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production). A prior linear analysis in D.Kennedy et al. submitted to Nucl…
PreprintD. Kennedy M. Giacomin B. S. Patel W. A. Hornsby D. Dickinson C. M. Roach
We present herein the results of a linear gyrokinetic analysis of electromagnetic microinstabilites in the conceptual high−β, reactor-scale, tight-aspect-ratio tokamak STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production, https://step.ukaea.uk). We examine a range of flux surfaces between the deep core and the pedestal top for the two candidate flat…
Preprint PublishedIT Chapman T Bestwick P Methven
Fusion power could be one of a few sustainable options in a portfolio required to replace fossil fuels as the world’s primary energy source. The attractive properties of fusion combined with the imperative to address climate change has resulted in a burgeoning interest in the field with a dramatic growth in privately-funded fusion ventures in …
PreprintM. Anderton C. Baus T. P. Davis R. Pearson K. Mukai J. Pollard K. Taylor S. Kirk J. Hagues
Tritium self-sufficiency is one of the fundamental challenges for deuterium-tritium nuclear fusion reactors. The combination of key high temperature radiation shielding materials that possess dense, high neutron absorption cross-section, and moderation properties, and tritium breeding materials could involve interesting design spaces for the centra…
PreprintChris Brown Hanni Lux James Cowan
Developments in fusion energy technology and the aspiration to build and run commercial fusion energy power plants has seen the commencement of numerous publicly and privately funded projects in recent years. Megaprojects, like fusion power plants, by their very nature are inherently complex and risky, therefore providing a robust cost estimate in …
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