The EU power plant conceptual study

An integrated Power Plant Conceptual Study (PPCS) was launched in 1988 in the frame of the European Fusion Programme. The objective of the PPCS is to demonstrate: the credibility of fusion power plant design(s); the claims for the safety and environmental advantages and for the economic viability of fusion power. In addition results of the PPCS Programme will help to define the R and D Programme. The strategy of the PPCS is to study a limited number of Plant Models that span the expected range of possibilities. These range from an advanced version of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) through to the presently foreseen ultimately achievable values of the plasma physics and technology parameters, together with a range of blanket and high heat flux technologies. The primary focus of detailed studies, and the first work to be undertaken, is on two Plant Models that emphasise limited extrapolation, since credibility within the philosophy of a possible fast-track development of fusion power is a major aim of the study. The remainder of this paper discusses the physics studies and the preliminary technology studies that have formed the launching pad for the detailed studies of Plant Models within the PPCS. The discussion concentrates on the ‘limited extrapolation’ Models that are being studied first, with brief reference to the Models that are further from ITER.