Validation and sensitivity of CFETR design using EU systems codes

Abstract

The Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) bridges the gap between ITER and a fusion power plant (FPP). The primary objectives of CFETR are: ∼2 GW of fusion power, producing ∼700 MW of net electric power, demonstrate tritium self-sufficiency, operate in steady-state and have a duty cycle of 30–50%. CFETR is in the pre-conceptual design phase and is currently envisaged to be a four-phase machine (from phase I Pfus∼200 MW to phase IV Pfus∼2 GW). In 2016 the EU and China began a collaboration on topics relating to nuclear fusion research and one topic of the work is on CFETR and DEMO. This contribution documents the progress on the collaboration on systems codes studies of CFETR. Systems codes attempt to model all aspects of a fusion power plant using simplified models (0-D, 1-D) and capture the interactions between plant systems. This allows the user to explore many reactor designs at a high level and optimise for different figures-of-merit (e.g. minimise major radius, R0, or maximise fusion gain, Q). The EU systems code used for this work is PROCESS, which is the systems code used to create the EU-DEMO baseline designs. This paper details the work on analysing a 2018 CFETR design point in EU systems code PROCESS and the feasibility of the design with regards to meeting the performance objectives and operation of the machine. The work comments on the four-phased nature of the device and the systems code output focuses on phase IV. In combination with the systems code, an uncertainty quantification tool is used to investigate the sensitivity of a CFETR design point to changes in the input assumptions in the systems code. This paper details sensitivities of the CFETR design and shows that given the specified inputs and the uncertainties there are a reasonable number of feasible design points around the CFETR phase IV design point that still fulfil the high-level objectives of the machine.