A proposal of nuclear fusion power plant equipped with SMES

When we intend to operate the nuclear fusion power plant (NFPP) under the e conomically efficient conditions as an independent power plant, it is desir able that the generated electric power should be sent to network according to the power demand. With such strategy being expanded, some energy storage system is available. In this paper, NFPP equipped with the superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES) as electric power storage device is proposed. The advantages of NFPP equipped with SMES are discussed and a cas e study of 500 MW NFPP equipped with 6 GWh SMES is done with estimating its operational value. For SMES coil, the concept of Force Balanced Coil (FBC) is applied and 6 GWh class FBC is briefly designed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.