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Optimal design of a toroidal field magnet system and cost of electricity implications for a tokamak using high temperature superconductors

Lee, T.S.; Jenkins, I.; Surrey, E.; Hampshire, D.P.

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Authors

T.S. Lee

I. Jenkins

E. Surrey



Abstract

The potential for reducing the Cost of Electricity (CoE) by using High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) in the Toroidal Field (TF) coils of a fusion tokamak power plant has been investigated using a new HTS module in the PROCESS systems code. We report the CoE and the design of HTS tokamaks that have been optimised by minimising the major radius of the plasma. Potential future improvements in both the superconducting properties and the structural materials for TF coils operating at 4.8 K and 30 K are considered. Increasing the critical current density by a factor of 10 (with a commensurate reduction in costs kA−1 m−1) results in a CoE 4.4% less than equivalent tokamaks using current low temperature superconductors (LTS). If the yield strength of the TF casing material is increased by 40% to 1400 MPa, the CoE is further reduced by 3.4%. Implementing both improvements and operating the TF coils at 4.8 K leads to CoE of 19.1 (10.1) €cent kW−1 h−1 for a 500 MW (1.5 GW) HTS reactor compared to 20.7 (11.1) €cent kW−1 h−1 for an LTS reactor (2013 costs). Operating the HTS TF coils at 30 K with both improvements, gives a similar CoE for HTS and LTS tokamaks.

Citation

Lee, T., Jenkins, I., Surrey, E., & Hampshire, D. (2015). Optimal design of a toroidal field magnet system and cost of electricity implications for a tokamak using high temperature superconductors. Fusion Engineering and Design, 98-99, 1072-1075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2015.06.125

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 24, 2015
Publication Date Oct 1, 2015
Deposit Date Jul 14, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Fusion Engineering and Design
Print ISSN 0920-3796
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 98-99
Pages 1072-1075
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2015.06.125
Keywords High temperature superconductors, PROCESS, Cost electricity, Toroidal field magnets.

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