POTENTIAL PROJECTS FOR AUTUMN 2022 ENTRY
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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…
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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)….
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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/…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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….
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…