Compact Fusion Advanced Rankine (CFAR II) Power Cycle

The Compact Fusion Advanced Rankine (CFARII) power cycle is a direct plasma energy conversion scheme for inertial fusion (ICF) and magnetically-insulated, inertially confined fusion (MICF) reactors utilizing: (1) conversion of plasma thermal ionization and thermal energy into kinetic energy of a supersonic plasma jet, (2) conversion of the plasma jet kinetic energy into DC electricity by slowing down in an “impulse” type of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator, and (3) condensation and heat rejection of the exhaust plasma on droplets of recirculating condensate (“raindrop” condensor). A preliminary evaluation of a particular reference case CFARII Balance-of-Plant (BoP) is found sufficiently attractive (52% gross cycle efficiency, 40 million 1991 $ BoP for 1 GWe gross electric) to warrant further work on several design issues.