Multi-criteria integrated assessment framework and GIS applied to fusion power plant site selection considering infrastructure-related data at a European scale

Abstract

Electricity is essential to human quality of life and should be generated in a sustainable, low-carbon, and environmentally responsible way to meet global demand. Nuclear fusion offers a clean energy opportunity to meet future energy needs. Recently, there has been increased interest from states and commercial companies in building an energy-supplying fusion power plant. In addition to the technical challenge, an appropriate choice of the site is necessary. This study examines possible sites by applying a multi-criteria integrated assessment to evaluate sites for a 1GW_el fusion power plant unit, in terms of infrastructure-related information and georeferenced datasets at a European scale. This enables well-founded decisions on potential sites and serves as the basis for the subsequent licensing of a fusion power plant. The paper presents a geographic information system (GIS)-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) for site selection. Seven exclusionary and nine discretionary criteria, organized into categories, are identified and applied in a two-stage decision-making process. Exclusionary criteria categories include the existence and sufficiency of cooling water, suitability of seismological conditions, environmental sensitivity, and land use. Discretionary criteria categories include electrical power infrastructure, natural conditions, and socio-economic infrastructure. Sensitivity analyses assess the impact of varying criteria and criterion weightings on the preferred candidate sites. Furthermore, the framework was benchmarked using sites from real fusion projects and previous studies. In the different cases, 0.04-0.15% of the European area is classified as “Highest preference” and 0.21-0.48% as “High preference”.