Demountable toroidal fusion core facility for toroidal physics optimization and fusion engineering research

The Demountable Toroidal Fusion Core (DTFC) concept has been analyzed for the Inductively Heated Tokamak (IHT), the Spherical Tokamak (ST), and the Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) for Fusion Engineering Research Facility (FERF) applications. Each of these confinement concepts is viewed as a ''core'' that is inserted into a surrounding machine envelope including, for example, the outboard toroidal field coil turns, the major poloidal equilibrium coils, blanket and materials testing stations, and a tension-suppression system (precompression) that provides mechanical integrity during the ignition and burn phases. Parametric systems analysis reveals that DTFC FERF operation is possible for all three confinement configurations with the IHT being the most costly and technologically challenging and the RFP being the least costly and, perhaps, least technologically challenging. Future work on the DTFC will be directed toward a Toroidal Physics Optimization Facility