Compact-Toroid fusion reactor based on the field-reversed theta pinch

Abstract
Early scoping studies based on approximate, analytic models have been extended on the basis of a dynamic plasma model and an overall systems approach to examine a Compact Toroid (CTOR) reactor embodiment that uses a Field-Reversed Theta Pinch as a plasma source. The field-reversed plasmoid would be formed and compressionally heated to ignition prior to injection into and translation through a linear burn chamber, thereby removing the high-technology plasmoid source from the hostile reactor environment. Stabilization of the field-reversed plasmoid would be provided by a passive conducting shell located outside the high-temperature blanket but within the low-field superconducting magnets and associated radiation shielding. On the basis of this batch-burn but thermally steady-state approach, a reactor concept emerges with a length below approx. 40 m that generates 300 to 400 MWe of net electrical power with a recirculating power fraction less than 0.15.