Conceptual design studies of the Electron Cyclotron launcher for DEMO reactor

¹ Istituto di Fisica del Plasma, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Milano, Italy
² EUROfusion Consortium, Boltzmannstr. 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
³ Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstr. 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
⁴ IAM-AWP, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
⁵ School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, NTUA, 157 73 Athens, Greece
⁶ Faculty of Physics, NKUA, 157 84 Athens, Greece
⁷ Swiss Plasma Center, EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

^* Corresponding author: moro@ifp.cnr.it

Published online: 23 October 2017

Abstract

A demonstration fusion power plant (DEMO) producing electricity for the grid at the level of a few hundred megawatts is included in the European Roadmap [1]. The engineering design and R&D for the electron cyclotron (EC), ion cyclotron and neutral beam systems for the DEMO reactor is being performed by Work Package Heating and Current Drive (WPHCD) in the framework of EUROfusion Consortium activities. The EC target power to the plasma is about 50 MW, in which the required power for NTM control and burn control is included. EC launcher conceptual design studies are here presented, showing how the main design drivers of the system have been taken into account (physics requirements, reactor relevant operations, issues related to its integration as in-vessel components). Different options for the antenna are studied in a parameters space including a selection of frequencies, injection angles and launch points to get the best performances for the antenna configuration, using beam tracing calculations to evaluate plasma accessibility and deposited power. This conceptual design studies comes up with the identification of possible limits, constraints and critical issues, essential in the selection process of launcher setup solution.