Heating and current drive scenarios for Tokamak Energy's Fusion Pilot Plant

Tokamak Energy (TE) is now in the final stages the initial preconceptual design phase for a fusion pilot plant (FPP) based on a tokamak concept with high-temperature superconducting magnets. The design has iteratively progressed over the past year and has now settled on a machine with major radius 5.0 m, aspect ratio 2.3, toroidal field of 5.25 T, and a modest solenoid capable of delivering ~20 Vs to aid with the current rampup phase. In this talk, we shall summarize the auxiliary heating and current drive (HCD) scenarios under consideration for TE's FPP. O1-mode ECRH is planned to be the dominant HCD actuator, and we shall present the results of our initial scoping for EC launcher locations and parameters using the recently developed physics-based optimization method (Lopez et al, PPCF 67, 055012 2025). We shall also discuss other HCD schemes we have considered during this design process, primarily for aiding the current rampup and transition-to-burn phase, and we shall conclude with our initial recommendation of the overall HCD mix for TE's FPP.