Evaluation of Torsatrons as reactors

Stellarators have significant operational advantages over tokamaks as ignited steady-state reactors. This scoping study, which uses an integrated cost-minimization code that incorporates costing and reactor component models self-consistently with a 1-D energy transport calculation, shows that a torsatron reactor could also be economically competitive with a tokamak reactor. The projected cost of electricity (COE) estimated using the Advanced Reactor Innovation and Evaluation Studies (ARIES) costing algorithms is 65.6 mill/kW(e)h in constant 1992 dollars for a reference 1-GW(e) Compact Torsatron reactor case. The COE is relatively insensitive (<10% variation) over a wide range of assumptions, including variations in the maximum field allowed on the coils, the coil elongation, the shape of the density profile, the beta limit, the confinement multiplier, and the presence of a large loss region for alpha particles. The largest variations in the COE occur for variations in the electrical power output demanded and the plasma-coil separation ratio