Design approach of the ARIES-AT power core and vacuum vessel cost assessment

The complexity of fusion power plants require the integration of many diverse and important system requirements to achieve a design approach that is viewed as a commercially viable electric plant. The ARIES-AT power core design builds upon a history of fusion power core designs that evolve along with physics and engineering advances. The baseline design point is optimized for maximum performance and minimum capital cost based upon the ARIES systems code results, along with physics and engineering analyses. The ARIES-AT power core is designed to be quick and easily maintainable to achieve high plant availability. A key element to achieve the high availability is the integration of the core elements with the design of the vacuum vessel. The vacuum vessel design is developed in more detail to assure the key assembly and maintenance features could be realized at an affordable cost.