Study of an advanced D-T tokamak fusion reactor with compact fusion advanced Rankine (CFAR) cycle

Recent progress of the CFAR (compact fusion advanced Rankine) cycle concept for a D-T tokamak reactor is presented with emphasis on how an enthalpy extraction can be achieved with a nonequilibrium disk-type MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) generator. For the gas stagnation temperatures of 3000 K, enthalpy extraction in excess of 50% is found to be achievable, leading to a 40% overall plant efficiency when a recuperative heat cycle and recently advanced thermoelectric converters are adopted. About a 6-ton/s mercury flow is required to remove fusion energy while achieving the 3000-K gas stagnation temperature prior to the MHD generator. Studies of plasma parameters in the steady-state operation regime subject to plasma physics constraints, the minimum power in the start-up phase required for ignition, effects of the MHD magnet on the plasma-confining magnetic fields, neutron and microwave superheat, and mercury corrosion test of ceramic rods for 2000 h are also described