Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has released a new tool designed to help the fusion energy industry assess the economic impact of plant operation and design trade-offs for building an inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant. The Generalized Economics Model (GEM) for Fusion Technology is now available to download.
"GEM helps the fusion industry understand how to build an economically viable IFE power plant," said Mackenzie Nelson, techno-economic systems analyst at LLNL's Livermore Institute for Fusion Technology (LIFT). "LIFT is excited to make this available to the community as a means of tapping into our expertise in fusion technology."
GEM assesses IFE power plant inputs relevant to the diode-pumped solid-state laser drive approach with indirect-drive targets. The chamber design is a dry-wall chamber with liquid lithium as the tritium breeder and primary coolant.
GEM's balance of plant data relies on prior IFE plant studies conducted at LLNL including the High Average Power Laser program and published input from LLNL's Laser Inertial Fusion Energy study.
The model is designed to receive user inputs and determines cost estimates for capital, operating and maintenance, and electricity output. The model enables design optimization through 1-D sensitivity studies and parameter scans from user inputs.
"GEM is being released to the fusion community to enhance their toolkit as they think through how IFE power plants could work in practice," said LIFT Director Tammy Ma. "This is one of many unique capabilities developed at LLNL that has informed our understanding of fusion ignition and how that could help make fusion energy a reality."
Both the GEM Excel Spreadsheet and the GEM User Guide PDF can be downloaded here: GEM (Generalized Economic Model). Macros must be enabled for full functionality of Excel Spreadsheet.
A software license for a more full-featured Integrated Process Model (IPM) for Inertial Fusion Energy is also available for purchase. The IPM is a techno-economic analysis tool used to assess technical trade-offs and associated economic viability of various inertial fusion power plant designs: IPM.
