AbstractIn order for fusion power to be widely accepted in the next century, it should offer advantages compared to available sources of energy. The Starlite study has examined the ability of tokamak-based power plants to compete with other energy sources. A set of top-level system requirements and goals for system economics, safety and waste disposal, and reliability and availability were established during extensive consultations with US electric utilities and industry representatives. Five different tokamak plasma operation modes were considered and different technology options (e.g. choice of structural material, coolant, breeder) were developed and assessed. Based on this assessment, the ARIES-RS design study was initiated to examine a power plant based on the reversed-shear mode of plasma operation, coupled to a fusion power core which uses high-performance lithium-cooled vanadium components. An overview of the ARIES-RS design is presented in this paper.