Input/System for defining costing schema

[samuelhward]

• have single source of input that can be customised according device type, costing methodology etc.
• hardcoding, e.g. of cost categories, makes code tightly coupled and not very extensible

1. Ideally we have a system where cost category is arbitrary and can be defined via input e.g. JSON. And that also relates to various components, and their respective costing methodologies. Hierarchical format is logical:

<device type e.g. tokamak> 
    <cost component one e.g. bioshield>
    .
    .
    <cost component two e.g. insurance>
        <cost model>
            "reference"
            SomeFunction()
         <metadata>
            "cost category"
        
   

2. There may also be an opportunity to define relationships between the categories and exogenous variables, such as device major radius, to allow scaling of costs.