Theme 04 04.001 Buttery Richard 6/08/2009 11:07 Theme 04 Given US consensus that an extra facility(s) is needed before DEMO can be built, the priority of this week should be to agree that the US should proceed with this, and start to scope out the optimum set of missions for this facility. 04.002 Goldston Rob 6/08/2009 11:54 Theme 04 As I understand the situation, a plasma which disrupts even once is incompatible with existing designs for breeding net tritium. The go / no go linkage to this issue needs much more emphasis in this discussion. Disruption elimination needs to be demonstrated in long-pulse high-duty-factor experiments to allow even CTF-level tests of blankets. 04.003 Goldston Rob 6/08/2009 12:05 Theme 04 I would be cautious about using Tore Supra as an example of disruption-free operation. In their recent attempt to make a long series of long-pulse discharges, they had to dial back the length of the long-pulse discharges because every one disrupted. They believe that this was because of overheating of C co-deposited layers, which may not exist in future devices, but as it stands, the T-S results do not demonstrate disruption-free operation. Quite the opposite. 04.004 Neilson Hutch 6/08/2009 23:25 Theme 04 Under what conditions is a neutron irradiation facility like IFMIF or a LANSCE upgrade needed? It was not as clear as it should be, given its importance. 04.005 Cohen Sam 6/09/2009 11:31 Theme 04 Comment on the time line relating RAMI and fuel cycle: The efforts to bring tokamak-based fusion power to reality start today, with the ITER era. A 30-year-duration DEMO reactor phase would follow, to demonstrate reliable and safe operation at reactor-level power. The first multi-GW tokamak reactor will be ready for design, licensing, and construction in 2060. This power plant would start operations in 2070. The tritium fuel for one year’s operation would deplete all that is available in nuclear stockpiles, but since this reactor is expected to breed its own fuel, it would be self supporting. However, whence the T fuel for the additional 999 multi-GW fusion reactors proposed to provided a goodly fraction of the global electricity needs? If the first tokamak reactor bred only 10% more T than it needed, it would take 10 years to provide fuel for one more reactor. By this doubling process, it would take 100 years to fuel 1000 reactors. 2170? A late date.