Pellet fueling predictions and performance in the high-field UCR compact reactor scenario

Core fueling in a fusion power plant will depend heavily on pellet injection. As a result, considering core accessibility and plasma performance in the presence of pellets is very important. In this work, we investigate pellet fueling accessibility and predict plasma performance in the UCR-P high-field compact reactor scenario[1]. Plasma predictions are made using the STEP[2] and FUSE[3] modeling frameworks to compare performance with different pellet characteristics under different plasma conditions. Preliminary results considering high-field side pellet injection predictions from PAM[4] show that when given plausible post-pellet injection density profiles, fusion power increased by 20% for a 10% increase in density. Importantly, in the initial investigation, ion and electron temperatures do not substantially decrease with significant density increases. We will also investigate the question of whether a pellet source can support a higher core density gradient to keep core density high and potentially support a sizable bootstrap current. Higher-fidelity pellet models may also be used, resources permitting.

[1] Holland et al., J. Plasma Phys. (2023)

[2] Lyons et al., Phys. Plasmas (2023)

[3] Meneghini et al., arXiv:2409.05894 (2024)

[4] McClenaghan et al., Nucl. Fusion (2023)

This work was supported by USDoE via awards DE-SC0024399