Fusion DTN: Training

Following registration at their host university all students will be based at York for two terms (6 months) studying the following modules. Students will be based in the new York Plasma Institute.

Click on the module title to show/hide the module descriptions.

Plasma Physics for Fusion

Fusion, whether by inertial confinement or magnetic confinement, requires deuterium and tritium to be heated to such high temperatures that the electrons are stripped from the ions. The resulting conducting gas is called a plasma. Plasmas are common-place around the universe so the topic of plasma physics is important in many branches of science including astrophysics and solar physics, as well as having industrial applications.

The basic plasma physics principles will be introduced through a combination of physical pictures and mathematical analyses, often using examples from fusion to provide specific applications.

Magnetic Confinement Fusion

A tokamak is a device that confines a toroidal plasma using a magnetic field. This topic addresses the plasma physics specifically relevant to tokamaks and other toroidal confinement devices. Such a plasma needs to be stable, so we will study which waves can be excited in a plasma, which of them are likely to lead to instabilities, which of these can be tamed, and which determine performance-limiting boundaries. A fusion plasma needs to be hot, so the topics of current drive and heating will be covered. The heat, once injected into the plasma, needs to be kept there, so we will develop an understanding of how heat is transported around the plasma, as a consequence of both coherent modes and also turbulence. The particular challenges for ITER will be discussed.

Inertial Confinement Fusion

A successful fusion reactor must confine the fusion fuel to maintain the thermonuclear reaction for sufficiently long that more energy is produced than was needed to start the reaction. The inertial confinement scheme involves the compression of tiny amounts (milligrams) of fuel to a thousand times solid density and uses the inertia of the fuel itself to provide the confinement. We will consider how inertial fusion may be achieved, and cover topics such as laser plasma interactions, dense plasmas, hydrodynamic implosion and instabilities, radiative energy transfer, nuclear fusion ignition and burn propagation. The students will be exposed to the most recent ideas and concepts in the field including hot spot, shock and particle-driven fast ignition.

Plasma Diagnostic Techniques

Much of experimental fusion research is concerned with the development of "diagnostics" (measuring instruments) to provide information on key plasma parameters. We will introduce the basics of diagnostic systems used in fusion research, and will demonstrate how advances in diagnostic development have led to an increased understanding of many outstanding problems in plasma physics. The emphasis will be on the underlying physical principles of each diagnostic and how the complex interactions within fusion plasmas can be used to determine their fundamental properties. As well as describing the physical principles and the hardware required for a given measurement, we will also consider methods of the data analysis used for each technique. Case studies of state of the art diagnostics will be used to illustrate the fundamental principles and we will conclude by considering diagnostic developments that are necessary for next-step devices such as ITER.

Fusion Reactor Technology

A key step in developing fusion as a viable source of electricity production is the development of reactor technologies to exploit the energy produced in burning plasmas. This complex subject encompasses a range of science and engineering disciplines, including materials science, physics, optical, electrical and mechanical engineering. Topics include materials damage and activation (which consider the effects of radiation on reactor materials and optics assemblies), tritium handling and breeding (including possible breeder blanket designs, advanced fuels, and strategies for controlling tritium retention within the reactor), inertial confinement driver technologies and target manufacturing processes, and auxiliary reactor components such as specialist heating systems for magnetic confinement fusion.

This course will be delivered by staff from the University of York, Central Laser Facility and Culham Centre for Fusion Energy.

Computational Plasma Techniques

Plasmas are such complex systems that their dynamics are often not analytically tractable, and in these cases, computers are used to simulate their behaviour. The course will provide an introduction to the computer simulation of plasmas. Students will learn about both continuum (fluid) and discrete (particle) techniques, and identify which techniques are appropriate for a variety of specific problems. In the computational laboratory, students will gain practical experience of computational techniques.

Experimental Techniques and Data Analysis

Large fusion experiments typically utilise a wide range of sophisticated instrumentation to diagnose the plasma performance. The interpretation of the large volume of data (several gigabytes per plasma pulse) generated by such instruments is an important part of fusion research. The course will introduce the skills necessary to interpret a range of diagnostic measurements routinely used on large fusion facilities. Using a suite of specialist software tools, students will be able to gain experience of analysing real data from leading inertial and magnetic confinement devices. The course will make use of the remote tokamak control room at York and will serve as excellent training for longer project work based at large facilities (for example at the Culham Laboratory or the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory).

 

In addition, students will write a dissertation in preparation for their research project, including a study exploring the potential for collaboration with others in their cohort. From April in their first year, students are based at their own university for their research project, often with extended periods of research at one of the associated government labs.

There will be an annual "Frontiers and Interfaces" workshop with invited external speakers, where all cohorts of students and supervisors in the network meet for a week-long scientific meeting exploring a range of fusion issues and how they link to related fields (e.g. fission, advanced instrumentation, technological plasmas, etc.).