I studied Physics at the University of Salamanca, during my degree I was fascinated with the possibilities of Fusion Energy and its possible commercialization. With this motivation, I completed a MsC in Fusion Energy at the University of York realizing a project about plasma Microtearing modes.
My DPhil project is titled “Modelling dust formation in a Fusion Device” and will be supervised by Prof. Ed Tarleton (University of Oxford), Dr. Yevhen Zayachuk & Dr Anna Widdowson (UKAEA). Dust formation is a big concern for fusion reactor performance and safety. It retains significant amounts of hydrogen, which affects the efficiency and due to its high chemical reactivity, it may cause explosions and damage to vessels. During my project, I’m working on developing a finite element model capable of simulating and predicting the fracture and delamination of deposition layers and the delamination of redeposited dust particles.
The model is planned to be used for the analysis and prediction of dust formation and its behaviour in ITER, the world’s largest fusion reactor, with the expectation that it can also be used in other future fusion devices built with different materials such as DEMO and STEP.