Executive summary

Reactor system operation and procedures have a profound impact on the conception and design of power plants. These issues are studied here using a model tokamak system employing a solid-breeder blanket. The model blanket is one which has evolved from the STARFIRE and BCSS studies. The reactor parameters are similar to those characterizing near-term fusion engineering reactors such as INTOR or NET (Next European Tokamak). Plasma startup, burn analysis, and methods for operation at various levels of output power are studied. A critical, and complicating, element is found to be the self-consistent electromagnetic response of the system, including the presence of the blanket and the resulting forces and loadings. Fractional power operation, and the strategy for burn control, is found to vary depending on the scaling law for energy confinement, and an extensive study is reported. Full-power reactor operation is at a neutron wall loading of 5 MW/m2 and a surface heat flux of 1 MW/m2. The blanket is a pressurized steel module with bare beryllium rods and low-activation HT-9-(9-C-)clad LiAlO2 rods. The helium coolant pressure is 5 MPa, entering the module at 2970C and existing at 5500C. The system power output is rated at 1000 MW(e). In this report, the authors present their findings on various operational scenarios and their impact on system design. They first start with the salient aspects of operational physics. Time-dependent analyses of the blanket and balance of plant are then presented