A Beam-Sustained Field-Reversed Configuration Burning Deuterium Helium-3 with a Direct-Conversion Exhaust

This paper presents a complete, computed design study of a fusion power plant based on a field-reversed configuration: a compact torus in which the plasma current reverses the externally applied field, creating closed field lines inside a separatrix. The fuel is deuterium helium-3, releasing 18.3 MeV per reaction released almost entirely in charged particles. Heating is by tangential neutral-beam injection that both heats and sustains the reversed field, and the blanket concept is low-activation silicon-carbide structure with a thin lithium layer for the residual deuterium side-reaction neutrons. Sizing follows from a zero-dimensional energy balance evaluated in the accompanying computation: fusion power 187.1 MW, auxiliary heating 80 MW, plasma gain Q 2.338, neutron power 7.483 MW, first-wall neutron loading 0.06266 MW per square metre, gross electric output 147.6 MW, recirculating power 149.9 MW and net electric output -2.257 MW. Radiated bremsstrahlung removes 7.568 MW and transport removes 1310 MW, against alpha-particle self-heating of 187.1 MW. The plant verdict on the stated assumptions is net negative. Where a quantity depends on an assumption that experiments have not yet demonstrated at the required value, that dependence is stated numerically so that the design can be re-scored as measurements improve. This study is simulated and computed from stated assumptions; it is not a measurement, and no part of the plant has been built. SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED.