Preparing systems codes for power plant design

Preparing systems codes for power plant design

Preparing systems codes for power plant design 150 150 UKAEA Opendata
UKAEA-CCFE-CP(23)18

Preparing systems codes for power plant design

As the EUROfusion EU-DEMO design programme approaches the transition between the pre-conceptual and conceptual design phase the systems code PROCESS has been improved to incorporate more detailed plasma physics, engineering and analysis modules. Unlike many systems codes PROCESS combines the physics modelling with both technology and costs analysis. Some of the key topics in the conceptual design phase are toroidal field magnet design, divertor power handling, operational sensitivity and economic uncertainty analysis. Models covering these areas have been integrated or improve in PROCESS. During the pre-conceptual design, systems codes are an essential tool for exploring fusion power plant concepts. They allow one to model the interaction of the plant systems and quickly perform reactor optioneering. To be able to carry out these large scoping studies the fidelity of the models can be restricted to reduce the computational time. The EUROfusion EU-DEMO baseline designs are created using the systems code PROCESS and the ability to measure these trade-offs has led to important design choices being examined during the DEMO pre-conceptual design phase. Ruling out unfeasible designs allows EUROfusion to efficiently identify where in the design space to carry out detailed design work. This contribution describes how PROCESS has been begun retooling for the upcoming EU-DEMO conceptual design phase. The paper details new additions to the PROCESS uncertainty quantification tools, high-temperature superconducting magnet model, toroidal field coil model and new models for spherical tokamaks (STEP). Additionally, the paper covers recent developments on the novel systems code BLUEPRINT which is being used in both the EUROfusion and STEP projects. The paper concludes with an outlook on systems code activities at UKAEA and work with partners at EUROfusion.

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28th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference, Nice, France, 10-15th May 2021