ARC Physics Basis Overview

Commonwealth Fusion Systems plans to build ARC, a high magnetic field tokamak, as the first fusion power plant by the early 2030’s at a site in Chesterfield County, VA. ARC will follow SPARC, which is now under construction. The ARC design, which has evolved from earlier iterations [1,2], targets production of 400 MW net electric based on achieving H98=0.9 in pulsed, inductive operation and leverages HTS magnet technology for a compact design. Part of the DOE Milestone Program, CFS initiated a set of physics studies to increase the fidelity of analysis for scenarios at the ARC design point and inform the SPARC research program, which will result in a set of peer-reviewed publications similar to the SPARC Physics Basis [3]. An overview of the physics basis for the ARC Version 3A tokamak design and operation will be presented, including assessment of the ARC ICRH system, H-mode access, alpha particle physics, and time-dependent scenario simulations, with additional results on boundary physics, disruptions, performance and transport, and MHD stability in complementary talks. These talks will highlight areas where SPARC will inform the ARC physics design.

[1] Sorbom et al, FED 2015

[2] Kuang et al, FED 2018

[3] Creely et al, JPP 2020