Commercial Tokamak Reactors with Resistive Toroidal Field Magnets

Scaling relations and design concepts are developed for commercial tokamak reactors that use water-cooled copper toroidal field (TF) magnets. Illustrative parameters are developed for reactors that are scaled up in size from LITE test reactor designs, which use quasi-continuous copper plate magnets. Acceptably low magnet power requirements may be attainable in a moderate beta (β = 0.065) commercial reactor with a major radius of 6.2 m. The shielding thickness and magnet size are substantially reduced relative to values in commercial reactors with superconducting magnets. Operation at high beta (β = 0.14) leads to a reduction in reactor size, magnet-stored energy, and recirculating power. Reactors using resistive TF magnets could provide advantages of physically smaller devices, improved maintenance features, and increased rugged-ness and reliability.