Cost Study of the ESPRESSO Blanket for a Tandem Mirror Reactor

A detailed cost study of the ESPRESSO blanket concept for the Tandem Mirror Fusion Reactor has been performed to complement the thermal-hydraulic parametric study of Reference 1. A computer code was developed to size the magnet, blanket and piping components and to evaluate the central cell contribution to the cost of electricity. The two most promising solid breeder/neutron multiplier configurations were studied: natural lithium oxide as the breeder with no multiplier (Case I), and 30% enriched gamma-lithium aluminate as the breeder with beryllium as the multiplier (Case IV). A design window was obtained for each case based on maximum material temperatures and spacing constraints. The minimum cost designs for Case I and Case IV correspond to 31 and 41 mills/kW-hr for the central cell contribution to the cost of electricity, and to optimum neutron wall loadings of 2.3 and 3.4 MW/m², respectively.