Abstract Details
Abstracts
Author: Jonathan Menard
Requested Type: Consider for Invited
Submitted: 2026-03-09 17:33:11
Co-authors: J. Berkery, T. Brown, N. Bertelli, L. Delgado-Aparicio, F. Ebrahimi, E. Emdee, N. Ferraro, N. Gorelenkov, M. Gorelenkova, A. Khodak, R. Majeski, R. Maingi, M. Ono, A. Pankin, J. Parisi, K. Shah
Contact Info:
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
100 Stellarator Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
United States
Abstract Text:
This presentation will describe physics design activities for a fully nuclear A=2, R=4-4.5m Spherical Tokamak Advanced Reactor (STAR) targeting 100-500MWe net electric power, tritium breeding ratio > 1 and including integrated vertical maintenance, power exhaust, and neutronics analysis. STAR operational scenarios have emphasized full non-inductive current drive with approximately 80% bootstrap current fraction with the remaining current drive provided by electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) and/or negative neutral beam injection (NNBI) with injection energies of 0.7MeV or above. These scenarios have elevated safety factor profiles with minimum q > 2. With wall stabilization (bwall/a = 0.5), beta-N ~ 5 is accessible with fusion power as high as 1.5-2GW. Comprehensive theoretical modelling is employed to understand this relatively unexplored tokamak regime. Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes (TAEs) are found to be stabilized by ion Landau damping to very high central ion temperature and normalized beta. Pedestal MHD stability calculated including kinetic effects and rotation using NIMROD show significant differences from ideal peeling-ballooning limits. SOLPS-ITER simulations show that a novel low-to-moderate recycling liquid lithium plus neon divertor is shown to limit peak heat fluxes and PFC temperatures within engineering limits. These and other important findings will be described.
Characterization: 5.0
Comments:
Invited talk would be most welcome but poster is also certainly ok. If poster place near similar presentations.