Neutron Wall Loading in Stellarator Optimization

Neutron wall loading (NWL) is a key quantity in fusion reactor design, influencing engineering constraints and guiding trade-offs between shielding and tritium breeding requirements. Approaches to evaluating NWL typically involve complex and computationally expensive workflows, including the development of neutronics-ready models and Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations. This complexity has prevented the integration of neutronics responses into early-stage optimization processes, particularly for stellarator configurations. In this work, we incorporate a deterministic, line-of-sight method for evaluating NWL as an objective function within the stellarator optimization code DESC. This integration enables the direct assessment of NWL during equilibrium optimization, illustrating the potential benefits of incorporating neutronics at earlier stages of stellarator design.