Reply To: Competition from the Thorium reactor

[Rematog]

Cogen for low level heat (HVAC, etc.) could be possible for distributed units. But that will be a good decade or two after initial deployment. The fact that this is the nuclear reactor (yes, I know it’s fusion…but it still will be licensed by the NRC and puts out radiation (yes, I know it’s x-ray wavelength electromagnetic)…I just do not believe you would get a permit to site one anywhere NEAR a residential or commercial area. And make no mistake, it will take a permit to install a fusion power block for the foreseeable future. (I am currently working on a project with an electrically powered x-ray tube used for analysis of coal. We will have to have a permit from the state to install it.)

Speaking of Heat, I neglected to include cooling water and plant auxiliary loads in my calculations.

I went back to my calculations, and used the inefficiencies of beam and x-ray conversion (90% eff, 80% x-ray) and calculated the waste heat. I added to this a reactor electrode cooling load of 5% of the gross energy (input + fusion) and come up with a heat load of 13.2 MMBtu per 5 MW power block or 1,586 MMBtu for a 600 MW plant re-powering with 120 FF power blocks. For comparison, from a modern 600 MW steam turbine heat balance, the condenser heat rejection is 2,492 MMBtu.

So, a cooling tower of 65% of the size can be used to cool Focus Fusion Block generating the same typical 600MW net. This works well for repowering, as the existing circulating water system would be re-used to supply cooling water.

I completely agree that my waste heat estimate is only a placeholder (esp. the electrode cooling) and better data on cooling loads is needed.

But, in all my cost estimate cases, I need to add the costs for plumbing the cooling systems up. While this adds to Focus Fusions costs, this will only decrease it’s advantage slightly.

Also, need to look at power requirements for plant site auxiliaries, including cooling tower fans and pumps, lighting, offices, etc. These will reduce plant net output by a very small percentage. For reference, a cooling tower of this size that I have data for, has 19 fans @150 Hp each and two circulating water pumps @ 3,500 Hp ea. So cooling alone will take 5.5 MW assuming 95% motor efficiency. I will re-run the busbar cost estimates with a total 3% parasitic load.