Status of the US stellarator reactor study

Abstract

Stellarators have significant operational advantages over tokamaks as ignited steady-state reactors. This scoping study, which uses an integrated cost-minimization code that incorporates costing and reactor component models self-consistently with a one-dimensional energy transport calculation, shows that a torsatron reactor could also be economically competitive with a tokamak reactor. The projected cost of electricity (COE) estimated using the Advanced Reactor Innovation and Evaluation Studies (ARIES) costing algorithms is 65.6 mill per kWe h in constant 1992 dollars for a reference 1 GWe compact torsatron reactor. The COE is relatively insensitive (less than 10% variation) over a wide range of assumptions, including variations in the maximum field allowed on the coils, the coil elongation, the shape of the density profile, the beta limit, the confinement multiplier, and the presence of a large loss region for alpha particles. The largest variations in the COE occur for variations in the electrical power output demanded and the plasma-coil separation ratio.