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Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
Farrokh Najmabadi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 1286-1292
Power Plant Design and Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963125
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Starlite Project was initiated to investigate the mission, requirements and goals, features, and the R&D needs of the Fusion Demonstration Power Plant based on tokamak confinement concept. It is obvious that the Fusion Demo should demonstrate that a commercial fusion power plant would be accepted by utility and industry (i.e., it is affordable and profitable) and by the general public and government (i.e., it has superior safety and environmental features). Therefore, as the first step in the Starlite project, a set of quantifiable top-level requirements, and goals for both commercial fusion power plants and the Fusion Demo were developed. Next, several candidate options for physics operation regime as well engineering design of various components (e.g., choice of structural material, coolant, breeder) have been developed and assessed. In each area, this assessment was aimed at investigating (1) the potential to satisfy the requirements and goals, and (2) the feasibility e.g., critical issues and credibility (e.g., degree extrapolation required from present data base). This assessment led to the choice of the reversed-shear as the tokamak plasma operation regime and a self-cooled lithium design with vanadium alloy for blanket and in-vessel structures for detailed design. This paper presents a summary of top-level requirements and goals for fusion power and overviews the results of our assessment of tokamak plasma physics and technology options and designs.