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Parametric cost analysis of a HYLIFE-II power plant

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6780041
 [1]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA) Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (USA)
The SAFIRE (Systems Analysis for ICF Reactor Economics) code was adapted to model a power plant using a HYLIFE-II reactor chamber. The code was then used to examine the dependence of the plant capital costs and busbar cost of electricity (COE) on a variety of design parameters (type of driver, chamber repetition rate, and net electric power). The results show the most attractive operating space for each set of driver/target assumptions and quantify the benefits of improvements in key design parameters. The base case plant was a 1,000 MWe plant containing a reactor vessel driven by an induction linac heavy ion accelerator run at 7.3 Hz with a driver energy of 5 MJ and a target yield of 370 MJ. The total direct cost for this plant was 2,800 M$ (where all $ in this paper are 1988$s), and the COE was 9 {cents}/KW*hour. The COE and total capital costs for the base plant assumptions for a 1,000 MWe plant are approximately independent of chosen repetition rate for all repetition rates between 4 and 10 Hz. For comparison, the COE for a coal or future fission plant would be 4.5--5.5 {cents}/KW*hour. The COE for a 1,000 MWe plant could be reduced to 7.6 {cents}/KW*hour by using advanced targets and could be cut to 6.8 {cents}/KW*hour with conventional targets if the driver cost could be cut in half. There is a large economy of scale with heavy ion driven ICF plants; a 5,000 MWe plant with one heavy ion driver and either one or two HYLIFE-II chambers would have a COE of only 4.4 {cents}/KW*hour.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/DP
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
6780041
Report Number(s):
UCRL-JC-103815; CONF-901007--10; ON: DE91000945
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English