Projects - Fusion CDT

An Investigation into the Potential for the Development of a Tritium Production Industry to service Fusion Power Plants for Electricity and Industrial Heat Production (materials strand)

Supervisors: Professor Laurence G Williams OBE FREng (Bangor University), Dr Simon Middleburgh (Bangor University), Dr Mark Gilbert (UKAEA, Culham) & Dr Lee Packer (UKAEA, Culham). The current view of the…

The effect of hydrogen isotopes and helium on tritium diffusion and extraction from candidate fusion breeder blanket ceramics. (materials strand project)

Application deadline – Tuesday 5th July 2022. Supervisor/s: Amy Gandy (University of Sheffield), Rebecca Boston (University of Sheffield), Slava Kuksenko (UKAEA), Anthony Hollingsworth (UKAEA) & Mohamad Abdallah (UKAEA – STEP)….

Exploiting high repetition rate experiments in dynamic high-pressure physics (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s: Andy Higginbotham (University of York) Dynamically driven high-pressure experiments allow us to reach pressure and temperature regimes inaccessible to traditional static compression platforms. These dynamic approaches allow us to…

Probing the plasma pressure limit in tokamaks (plasma strand project)

Supervisors: Professor Kieran Gibson (University of York) and Professor Howard Wilson (University of York) The fusion power output of a tokamak reactor, such as the experimental ITER facility or future…

Coupling Particle In Cell with High-Order Finite Elements and Uncertainty Quantification (plasma strand project)

Supervisors: Peter Hill (University of York), David Dickinson (University of York) & James Cook (UKAEA). The edge region of tokamak devices is a crucial part of the plasma, as it…

Exploring spectral energy transfer in non-linear gyrokinetic simulations and experiment (plasma strand project)

Supervisors: Dr David Dickinson (University of York) & Dr István Cziegler (University of York). Plasma turbulence acts to degrade the confinement of particles and energy in magnetic confinement devices, such…

Hot, dense matter creation via ultra-intense laser interaction with novel, structured targets (plasma strand project)

Supervisor: Kate Lancaster (University of York). The ability to heat high-density mid- to high-Z materials to temperatures of 100’s eV to a few KeV is critical for studies of warm/…

Understanding the ablation of plasma facing components in Tokamak devices using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (plasma strand)

Supervisor/s – Dr Steven Lind, Dr Ben Rogers and Dr Jack King (University of Manchester) Divertor components in Tokamak devices are subjected to significant thermal loads, both in steady operation…

Turbulence diagnosis using the Synthetic Aperture Microwave Imager (SAMI) (Plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – Roddy Vann and David Dickinson (University of York) Turbulence is the chaotic motion of fluids observed across nature – and particularly in tokamak plasmas. Indeed, turbulence is the…

Microwave heating & current drive on the MAST Upgrade Tokamak (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – Roddy Vann (University of York). Simon Freethy (UKAEA) and Alf Köhn (University of Stuttgart). Microwaves are the part of the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelengths approximately ranging from a…

High-Field Superconductors under Strain that Enable Spherical Tokamaks for Fusion Power Generation (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s – Prof. D. P Hampshire (Durham University) Materials Strand project – an experimental PhD project. Background to the PhD Research Project: The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Tokomak that…

Computational Time-Dependent Ginzburg-Landau (TDGL) Theory for High-Field Superconductors in Compact Fusion Energy Tokamaks (Materials Strand project)

Supervisor/s – Prof. D. P Hampshire (Durham University) Materials strand project – a computational PhD project. Project Description Background: The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Tokomak that is being built…

Development of a Tungsten-Diamond Composite for High Heat-Flux Plasma Facing Components (materials strand project)

Supervisor/s – Aneeqa Khan, Ed Pickering & Paul Mummery (University of Manchester). Yiqiang Wang (UKAEA), David Bowden (UKAEA) & Steve Lisgo (Independent). Laboratory production and testing of a next-generation, high…

Interplay between SOL flows, transport and divertor conditions (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – Istvan Cziegler (University of York) Many of the most crucial and scientifically most challenging problems of magnetically confined fusion occur near the surface of the plasma. This is…

Conceptual design of an internal magnetic field diagnostic for magnetic fusion confinement devices based on cosmic muons (plasma strand project).

Supervisor/s – M. Cecconello & P. Stowell (University of Durham) Toroidal magnetic confinement is a major avenue to achieve a self-sustaining fusion burning plasma with a positive net energy balance….

The Processing and Bulk Properties of New Low-Activation High-Entropy Alloys (materials strand project)

Supervisor/s – Dr Ed Pickering & Dr Aneeqa Khan (University of Manchester). Dr Huw Dawson (CCFE). A number of existing alloys have been proposed for use inside future fusion reactors,…

Ultra fast Langmuir probe measurements in MAST-U edge plasma (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – Dr Paul Bryant (University of Liverpool) & Dr Peter Ryan (CCFE) Langmuir probes are commonly used to measure plasma parameters such as electron temperature, ion saturation current and…

Laser Thomson scattering measurements in fusion-relevant magnetised plasma (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – Professor James Bradley & Dr Mark Bowden (University of Liverpool) At the University of Liverpool, we have developed a world-class magnetically confined plasma experiment, furnished with an array…

Event-driven PIC-MCC simulations for NBI sources: a proof of concept (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – Mohammad Hasan (University of Liverpool) Neutral beam injection (NBI) is one of the main heating methods planned for use to heat plasma in fusion reactors [1]. Typically NBI…

Mechanics and radiation tolerance of nanostructured steels for fusion plant structures (materials strand projects)

Supervisor/s – Dr. Enrique Jimenez-Melero & Prof. Grace Burke (University of Manchester). Dr. Huw Dawson (UKAEA) Structural materials and components in proximity to the D-T plasma fuel in tokamak-type reactors…

XFEL studies for laser fusion: generating accurate information-rich data sets for code benchmarking and validation (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – Nigel Woolsey (University of York) Inertial fusion energy is a grand challenge undertaking for humankind requiring innovation, experiments, and the development of predictive modelling to accelerate the development…

High-temperature microscale creep deformation behaviour of irradiated advanced structural steels (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s – Angus Wilkinson and David Armstrong (University of Oxford). Viacheslav Kuksenko (UKAEA) Availability of materials capable of withstanding the severe operational conditions of fusion reactors is among the main…

Decoupling Hardening mechanisms in irradiated materials (materials strand project)

Supervisor/s – David Armstrong and Angus Wilkinson (University of Oxford). Chris Hardie (UKAEA). Future nuclear power systems, both fission and fusion, rely on the development of materials which can withstand…

Lithium Corrosion and Irradiation Influence on Fusion Relevant Coating Systems (materials strand project)

Supervisor/s – Anna Kareer, Chris Grovenor, David Armstrong (University of Oxford). Callum Gallagher (UKAEA). The blanket module of the fusion devices of the future is likely to have a coolant,…

Multiscale High Temperature Mechanical Performance of Materials for Nuclear Fusion (materials strand project)

Supervisor/s – David Armstrong and Angus Wilkinson (University of Oxford). Chris Hardie (UKAEA). Future nuclear power systems, both fission and fusion, rely on the development of materials which can withstand…

Off-axis neutron camera for MAST Upgrade (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – M. Cecconello (Durham University) In fusion plasmas, fast ions have energies much higher than the thermal plasma background. Fast ions are generated by external auxiliary heating such as…

Reduced transport modelling of fast ions in MAST Upgrade (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – M. Cecconello (Durham University) In fusion plasmas, fast ions have energies much higher than the thermal plasma background. Fast ions are generated by external auxiliary heating such as…

Reconstruction of MHD instabilities using Soft X-ray emission on MAST Upgrade (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – M. Cecconello (Durham University) In fusion plasmas, fast ions have energies much higher than the thermal plasma background. Fast ions are generated by external auxiliary heating such as…

Development of an imaging neutral particle analyzer for MAST Upgrade (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – M. Cecconello (Durham University) In fusion plasmas, fast ions have energies much higher than the thermal plasma background. Fast ions are generated by external auxiliary heating such as…

Producing beams of ions from low temperature plasma sources (plasma strand project)

Supervisor/s – James Dedrick, Chris Ridgers & Erik Wagenaars (University of York) Non-equilibrium, low-pressure plasmas can provide ion sources critical to external heating of magnetic confined fusion reactors by underpinning…

Characterisation of Castable Nanostructured Alloys for Nuclear Fusion Applications (Materials Strand project)

Supervisor/s – Paul Mummery, Aneeqa Khan & Ed Pickering (University of Manchester). Huw Dawson (UKAEA) The current generation of structural steels in nuclear fusion reactors are limited to a maximum…

Developing MAX phase coatings for nuclear fusion (materials strand project)

Supervisor/s – Dr Phillip Frankel, Dr Rob Harrison & Prof Sarah Haigh (University of Manchester). Background: MAX phases are a range of layered structures which have the general formula: Mn+1AXn,…