Emir Pinto
Postgraduate Researcher
University of York
Co-hort year: 2024 entry
I studied theoretical physics at Royal Holloway University of London in 2018. This built a strong foundation of physics; however, I wanted to study a field with a direct link to industry working on real world problems. This led me to study physics with technology of nuclear reactors at the University of Birmingham, where I was introduced to nuclear fusion. I joined UKAEA in 2022 as a decommissioning graduate, working on JET decommissioning and repurposing (JDR). I learnt a huge amount of fusion engineering during this time, including the challenges facing fusion decommissioning. I had the opportunity to travel to fusion conferences and work in the JET control room during DTE3. This inspired me to pursue fusion further, specifically plasma physics, hence I researched the fusion CDT. I was keen to take part in a project which not only enabled me to work at Culham but also had links to private industry.
Heat and mass transport in a tokamak plasma is primarily influenced by turbulence. Despite progress, there isn’t a reliable model to predict confinement in tokamaks. To understand plasma confinement better, we need to study turbulent fluctuations. Plasma near the separatrix affects core conditions and the scrape-off-layer (SOL). The edge plasma in tokamaks shows structures that cause irregular plasma fluctuations. Turbulence can spread, causing transport in both confined and open-field regions. Understanding turbulent transport is key to predicting confinement in tokamaks. My project focuses on studying edge plasma fluctuations in the spherical tokamaks MAST-U and ST40. MAST-U has tools to explore these fluctuations, including Beam Emission Spectroscopy (BES) for studying edge turbulence and plasma flows. Diagnostics on ST40 will also be used for comparison. Dimensionless matching studies will help link confinement and turbulence properties between MAST-U and ST40.
This project is co-funded by Tokamak Energy, a private fusion company based in Oxfordshire. They operate ST-40, a spherical tokamak which achieved the highest triple product of any private fusion reactor. They also develop high temperature superconductors (HTS) for use in tokamak magnets.
