Compact experimental negative triangularity reactor (CENTAUR): A design study for a compact, affordable breakeven tokamak

作者：S. Freiberger, Evan M. Bursch, Javier Eduardo Chiriboga, Hiro Joseph Farre-Kaga, E.J. Felske, S. Guizzo, John Labbate, Shreyas Seethalla, Frederick C Sheehan, Jamie Laveeda Xia, Anson Braun, D. Burgess, Nathaniel Chen, Jacob M. Halpern, Mohammed Haque, A. Hyder, Alexandra Lachmann, Rohan Lopez, Kian Orr, Kalen Richardson, Melanie Russo, Alex Veksler, C. Hansen, Andreas Holm, N. Leuthold, O. Meneghini, A. Nelson, M. Pharr, T. Slendebroek, Ian G Stewart, F. Scotti, M. Tobin, Haley S Wilson, Benedikt Zimmermann, C. Paz-Soldan · 发表于：Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1088/1361-6587/ae9eea · 研究领域：Magnetic confinement fusion research、Fusion materials and technologies、Superconducting Materials and Applications

Abstract This work presents the compact experimental negative triangularity reactor (CENTAUR), a low overnight cost, high-field tokamak, breakeven reactor design, achieving a predicted total fusion power of 40 MW and scientific energy gain of 1.3. Ballooning stability calculations confirm that the device's pedestal is within the first stability regime, which is consistent with the expected ELM-free operation associated with negative triangularity (NT) plasmas. The geometry of the NT divertor allows for high fraction of radiated power (13.5%) between the separatrix and plasma facing components. Heat transport modeling based on simulations of the edge region show heat loads into plasma facing components well below material limits. The magnet system employs rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) high-temperature superconductors in 18 toroidal field coils, an hourglass-shaped central solenoid, and six poloidal field coils to support high-field (B0 = 10.9 T) plasma confinement, shaping, and current drive. Neutronics analysis shows that a 12 cm B4C shield keeps superconducting magnet heating below the 33 K quench limit during 10 s, 40 MW DT pulses. With this shielding, the modeled fluence indicates HTS components can survive more than ten times the 3000-pulse design lifetime. Iteration of economic analysis in tandem with the technical design process allows CENTAUR to achieve its overnight cost goal of $2B determined using a custom costing model that predicts a total overnight cost ...