The China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (中国聚变工程实验堆, CFETR) is a proposed tokamak fusion reactor, which uses a magnetic field in order to confine plasma and generate energy. As of 2015, tokamak devices are leading candidates for the construction of a viable and practical thermonuclear fusion reactor. These reactors may be used to generate sustainable energy whilst ensuring a low environmental impact and a smaller carbon footprint than fossil fuel-based power plants.
The CFETR utilises and intends to build upon pre-existing nuclear fusion research from the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor program in order to address the gaps between ITER and the next generation thermonuclear plant and successor reactor class to ITER, the Demonstration Power Plant (DEMO).
As of 2019, three domestic fusion test reactors are in operation in China. These include EAST in ASIPP at Hefei, HL-2A(M) at the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP) at Chengdu and J-TEXT located at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan. Additionally, as of 2021, in an effort to more accurately simulate a potentially functionally operational CFETR, the HL-2A at SWIP was upgraded to the HL-2M. Construction for the HL-2M was completed in November 2019, and the device was commissioned on December 4, 2020.
The conceptual design of the CFETR, completed in 2015, is largely based on the design of these three domestic fusion reactors. Construction of the CFETR will likely begin in the 2020s, with expected completion by the 2030s.
Aims and objectives
The China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) will operate in two phases. In the first phase, the CFETR will be required to demonstrate steady state operation and tritium self-sufficiency with a tritium breeding ratio > 1. Moreover, in Phase 1, the CFETR should demonstrate generation of fusion power up to 200MW.
The second phase, the DEMO validation phase, requires the CFETR to generate power over 1 GW. More generally, the CFETR will also serve as a research and development tool for the testing of various structural and functional materials to identify or develop a material with a high neutron flux resistance.
Design
As of 2019, design for the CFETR was ongoing in its engineering design phase, which was expected to be completed between 2020 and 2021. The first stage, between 2010 and 2015, is referred to as the concept design stage. It was necessary to demonstrate the economic viability of the construction of a small-scale machine. Moreover, this stage provided a proof of concept for the construction of a cost-effective fusion reactor capable of generating power.
The second phase of design, the engineering design phase, began in 2015, directed towards the design of a large-scale machine with the aim of achieving 1 GW power output per DEMO's validation requirement. Since 2017, research moved towards simulating various operating scenarios, researching the nuance of various experimental designs of individual CFETR components, such as the full-sized vacuum vessel and tritium breeding technology.
As of 2019, discoveries made since the conceptual and engineering phases of research were being consolidated, integrated and built upon..
Challenges
Location, resource and infrastructure
The China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor is planned in Hefei, Anhui province. Some critical issues are still yet to be resolved, this includes 19 key system problems such as vertical instability control with internal coils, impurity control, alpha particle transport, disruption avoidance and mitigation, type-I ELM control and avoidance, technologies for the large heating power, tritium breeding and handling. Moreover, whilst the properties of materials needed for the construction of the CFETR are known, many of these materials have yet to be fabricated and research is still ongoing for the creation of required materials.
Furthermore, self-sufficiency of the CFETR is one of the greatest challenges. Deuterium and tritium are the fuel sources for the CFETR, and whilst deuterium is naturally abundant, commercial tritium sources are scarce. Whilst tritium can be produced under lab conditions using heavy water reactors, accelerators and light water reactors, the present amount of tritium being produced internationally is insufficient for operating fusion reactors. As such, key challenges are creating an appropriate fuel cycle concept for tritium recycling and renewal as well as formulating novel methods to produce tritium in an economical and cost-effective manner.