Requirements for alternate end uses of fusion energy

Abstract

End uses of fusion energy other than the production of electricity have been receiving increasing attention over the past several years. Potential alternate end uses include: fissile fuel production, combustible fuel production, district heating, process steam generation, and fission product and actinide transmutation. Each of these uses will require energy conversion technologies different from those used for power generation and each will have to meet a different set of institutional requirements.

This paper contains brief discussions of the energy conversion technologies which may be applicable for these alternate uses and assessments of the institutional requirements they will have to meet. Institutional requirements for the alternate end use plants are expected to depend on factors including how many plants are to be built, who will own and operate them, where they must be located, and whether or not the end product can be stored. A set of institutional requirements developed for EPRI as part of study of what the electric utility industry would require of fusion electric power generating plants was used as a basis. This set of requirements included considerations of finance and planning; safety, siting, and licensing; operations and maintenance; and resources and manufacturing. They were modified by the factors listed above for each end use and the resultant requirements were compared with the projected characteristics of the alternate use plants. The resulting assessments are, of course, very preliminary in nature but should provide guidance for further studies of alternate end use fusion plants.