Abstract
Progress is reported on a study to define a “pilot plant” to demonstrate the production of high grade heat in a fusion power plant configuration at the lowest possible capital cost. We are considering several driven reactor tokamak designs with fusion power production levels in the 15–50 MWth range, using demountable copper coils. We conclude that it is acceptable for such facilities to be net consumers of electricity as a trade-off to achieve low capital cost, which we estimate to be in the $1 billion range. These designs are based on currently accepted physics models. Even lower cost designs may be possible, if we depart somewhat from the current physics database.