PILOT-PLANT - AN AFFORDABLE STEP TOWARD FUSION POWER

Progress is reported on a study to define a ''pilot plant'' to demonstrate the production of high grade heat in a fusion power plant configuration at the lowest possible capital cost. We are considering several driven reactor tokamak designs with fusion power production levels in the 15-50 MWth range, using demountable copper coils. We conclude that it is acceptable for such facilities to be net consumers of electricity as a trade-off to achieve low capital cost, which we estimate to be in the $1 billion range. These designs are based on currently accepted physics models. Even lower cost designs may be possible, if we depart somewhat from the current physics database.