Fusion DEMO sCO2 layout design with battery farm

Nuclear fusion is a promising low-carbon and low-emission source of energy. One of the first fusion power plants will be the European Union's demonstration fusion power plant DEMO. Among the key attributes that influence the whole DEMO design is the fusion reactor pulse operation. Due to the power fluctuations of the power source, there will be a significant impact on the power plant technology, turbine, etc. Therefore, a power conversion system based on a supercritical CO2 capable of operating in two nominal power levels is proposed. The system operates in nominal parameters during the entire power cycle without the need for thermal power pulses balancing. Unlike other designs, instead of connecting the energy storage system directly to the heat transfer system, this article proposes a layout with an energy storage system behind the generator. Power pulses are balanced using a battery farm, compensating the fluctuations in the gross power and power plant self-consumption. Power conversion system is based on a sCO(2) Brayton simple cycle with regeneration and includes technology for nominal operation at two levels of thermal power. Optimization of the proposed layout shows thermodynamic net efficiency of 24 %. (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Nuclear fusion is a promising low-carbon and low-emission energy source, and the European Union's demonstration fusion power plant DEMO is one of them. The pulse operation of the fusion reactor is a key attribute in the design of DEMO, and power fluctuations from the power source have a significant impact on the power plant technology. This article proposes a power conversion system based on supercritical CO2 that can operate at two nominal power levels.