PROSPECTS FOR TOROIDAL FUSION-REACTORS

Work on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) to kamak has refined understanding of the realities of a deuterium-tritiu m (D-T) burning magnetic fusion reactor. An ITER-like tokamak reactor using ITER costs and performance would lead to a cost of electricity ( COE) of about 13O mills/kWh. Advanced tokamak physics to be tested in the Toroidal Physics Experiment (TPX), coupled with moderate extrapola tion in engineering, technology, and unit costs (i.e., based on the IT ER design), should lead to a COE comparable with best existing fission systems around 60 mills/kWh. However, a larger unit size, similar to 2000 MW((e)), is favored for the fusion system. Alternative toroidal c onfigurations to the conventional tokamak, such as the stellarator, re versed-field pinch, and field-reversed configuration, offer some poten tial advantage, but are less well developed, and have their own challe nges.