A Compact Quasi-axisymmetric Stellarator Reactor
Authors: L.P. Ku and the ARIES-CS Team
Date of PPPL Report: October 2003
Presented at: the 20th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE2003), 15-17 October 2003, San Diego, California. Proceedings to be published by IEEE.
We report the progress made in assessing the potential of compact, quasi-axisymmetric stellarators as power-producing reactors. Using an aspect ratio A=4.5 configuration derived from NCSX and optimized with respect to the quasi-axisymmetry and MHD stability in the linear regime as an example, we show that a reactor of 1 GW(e) maybe realizable with a major radius less than or equal to 8 m. This is significantly smaller than the designs of stellarator reactors attempted before. We further show the design of modular coils and discuss the optimization of coil aspect ratios in order to accommodate the blanket for tritium breeding and radiation shielding for coil protection. In addition, we discuss the effects of coil aspect ratio on the peak magnetic field in the coils.