1. Application of Systems Engineering to Nuclear Fusion projects
Tanya Galliara

2. Traditional approaches
An academic reactor1 or reactor plant almost always has the following basic characteristics:
It is simple
It is small
It is cheap
It is light
It can be built very quickly
It is very flexible in purpose
Very little development is required
The reactor is in the study phase. It is not being built now.
A practical reactor plant1 can be distinguished by the following characteristics:
It is being built now
It is behind schedule
It is requiring an immense amount of development for seemingly trivial items.
It is very expensive
It takes a long time to build because of the engineering development problems
It is large
It is heavy
It is complicated.
Moving away from building ITER mk2
Is a tokamak the right solution?
Is it just a bigger version of ITER?
What happens when we connect it to the GRID?
How will we bring Operators on board? Profitability? Maintainability?
Viable source for electricity generation!
1Rickover (1953)

3. Where can SE help? A need to move a way from sequential engineering
The design should drive the R&D - identifying technology gaps where further R&D is urgently needed (Gen IV projects)
Moving away from building ITER mk2 – Is a tokamak the right solution?
What happens when we connect it to the GRID?
How do we integrate all the technology together?
Team effort – SE & SME
For example Nuclear Licensing
Establishing common set of requirements for all next generation projects
Examples – European Space Agency Concurrent Design Facility
NASA Integrated Design Centre, Mission Design Lab, Instrument Design Lab
Boeing

4. EU approach to DEMO Design
Development of multiple architectures in parallel to satisfy PRD
Recognition that we do not know what the ideal DEMO looks like
Baseline: best guess and a realistic representation of what DEMO could look like – and a useful tool!
Matti Coleman | 22nd Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy | Philadelphia | August 22nd 2016

5. Baseline
Matti Coleman | 22nd Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy | Philadelphia | August 22nd 2016 | Page 4

6. Relation between top-level requirements and systems
Each system is allocated requirements and functions, and broken down into further sub-systems until a sub-system design can be “sub-contracted” to a Work Package with a formalised set of requirements (SRD).
Matti Coleman | 22nd Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy | Philadelphia | August 22nd 2016

7. Lessons for us to learn Military applications of Nuclear Fusion
Government Furnished Equipment
Components Off The Shelf (COTS)
Obsolescence & Aging Management
Storage
Risk Management
Verification and Validations
Modelling and Simulations
Accelerated Aging tests
No longer legally allowed to carry out warhead tests!
What happens when tests go wrong?
Guardian article 23rd January 2017

8. Management of Complexity & Reduction of Risk
Understand the problem
How will the environment change between now and when the system is ready?
How will the environment and end users respond to the new system?
What inputs or metrics might change during the project?
Investigate alternative solutions
Work out how to choose between the alternatives
Record of decision making process
Define and agree upon the system architecture
The relationship between the system, it’s environment and it’s sub-systems
Agree and manage the requirements
Balancing desired effect with budget and technical feasibility
Test system against requirements
Agree and manage the interfaces
Creating an effective whole
Allowing teams to work in parallel with confidence
Prepare the test and support systems in parallel to the operational system
Compatibility and availability
Track technical performance against a plan

9. References Matti Coleman (22nd TOFE presentation, August 2016)
NGNP Congress Report, April 2010, US DOE, ONE
NGNP Prismatic HTGR Conceptual Design Project - Final Technical Report General Atomics, NGNP-B00259 Rev 0, July 2011
NGNP High Temperature Materials White Paper, Idaho National Laboratory, August 2012
NASA Systems Engineering Processes and Requirements (NP” B)