DEMOnstration Power Plant

For other uses of "DEMO", see Demo.

Artist's concept of DEMO connected to the power grid

DEMO, or a demonstration power plant (often stylized as DEMOnstration power plant), refers to a proposed class of nuclear fusion experimental reactors that are intended to demonstrate the net production of electric power from nuclear fusion. Most of the ITER partners have plans for their own DEMO-class reactors. With the possible exception of the EU and Japan, there are no plans for international collaboration as there was with ITER.[1][2]

Plans for DEMO-class reactors are intended to build upon the ITER experimental nuclear fusion reactor.[3][4]

The most well-known and documented DEMO-class reactor design is that of the European Union (EU). The following parameters have been used as a baseline for design studies: the EU DEMO should produce at least 2000 megawatts (2 gigawatts) of fusion power on a continuous basis, and it should produce 25 times as much power as required for scientific breakeven, which does not include the power required to operate the reactor. The EU DEMO design of 2 to 4 gigawatts of thermal output will be on the scale of a modern electric power station.[5] However, the nominal value of the steam turbine is 790 megawatts, which, after overcoming a 5% loss because of the coupling from the turbine to the synchronous generator, results in a nominal value for electrical power output of approximately 750 megawatts.[6]:5

Project Injected Thermal Input Gross Thermal Output Q plasma value
JET 24 MW 16 MW 0.6
ITER 50 MW 500 MW 10
EU DEMO 80 MW 2000 MW 25

To achieve its goals, if utilizing a conventional tokamak design, a DEMO reactor must have linear dimensions about 15% larger than ITER, and a plasma density about 30% greater than ITER. According to timeline from EUROfusion, operation is planned to begin in 2051.[7]

It is estimated that subsequent commercial fusion reactors could be built for about a quarter of the cost of DEMO.[8][9] However, the ITER experience suggests that development of a multi-billion US dollar tokamak-based technology innovation cycle able to develop fusion power stations that can compete with non-fusion energy technologies is likely to encounter the "valley of death" problem in venture capital, i.e., insufficient investment to go beyond prototypes,[10] as DEMO tokamaks will need to develop new supply chains[11] and are labor intensive.[12]

  1. ^ "Charting the International Roadmap to a Demonstration Fusion Power Plant". 11 May 2018.
  2. ^ (U.S.), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (17 November 2021). Bringing fusion to the U.S. grid. National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-68538-2. OCLC 1237825246.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Demonstration fusion plants". www.iaea.org. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  4. ^ "ITER: The World's Largest Fusion Experiment". www.iaea.org. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Demonstration Fusion Reactors". Fusion for Energy. European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy. Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  6. ^ Ciattaglia, Sergio; Falvo, Maria Carmen; Lampasi, Alessandro; Proietti Cosimi, Matteo (1 May 2020). "Energy Analysis for the Connection of the Nuclear Reactor DEMO to the European Electrical Grid". Energies. 13 (9): 2157. doi:10.3390/en13092157. hdl:11573/1394965. ISSN 1996-1073.
  7. ^ "2018 Research roadmap" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Beyond ITER". The ITER Project. Information Services, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Archived from the original on 7 November 2006.
  9. ^ "Overview of EFDA Activities". EFDA. European Fusion Development Agreement. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006.
  10. ^ Cardozo, N. J. Lopes (4 February 2019). "Economic aspects of the deployment of fusion energy: the valley of death and the innovation cycle" (PDF). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 377 (2141): 20170444. Bibcode:2019RSPTA.37770444C. doi:10.1098/rsta.2017.0444. ISSN 1364-503X. PMID 30967058.
  11. ^ Entler, Slavomir; Horacek, Jan; Dlouhy, Tomas; Dostal, Vaclav (2018). "Approximation of the economy of fusion energy". Energy. 152: 489–497. Bibcode:2018Ene...152..489E. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2018.03.130. ISSN 0360-5442.
  12. ^ Banacloche, Santacruz; Gamarra, Ana R.; Lechon, Yolanda; Bustreo, Chiara (15 October 2020). "Socioeconomic and environmental impacts of bringing the sun to earth: A sustainability analysis of a fusion power plant deployment". Energy. 209: 118460. Bibcode:2020Ene...20918460B. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2020.118460. ISSN 0360-5442. S2CID 224952718.