Novel insights & solutions to power exhaust
Dissipating the immense heat fluxes before they reach a fusion reactor鈥檚 wall is one of fusion鈥檚 biggest challenges. We conduct experiments on fusion reactors across the world to develop novel insights and solutions to this challenge.
Bringing fusion energy closer to reality.
Large-scale public projects (DEMO, ITER), as well as more compact and potentially faster, cheaper routes to fusion (STEP, SPARC, ARC), all face the same critical issue: how to safely exhaust the immense plasma heat loads in the divertor region before they damage the reactor wall. This typically requires massive impurity injection to 鈥榙etach鈥� the hot, ionising plasma from the target. However, this detachment process is not fully understood and can negatively affect the hot fusion core. By using magnetic coils to modify the plasma shape before it reaches a reactor鈥檚 wall, we can 鈥榯rick鈥� the plasma into cooling itself (Alternative Divertor Configurations), making detachment easier and more resilient. Our group performs experiments on fusion machines worldwide to unravel the physics behind power exhaust and develop reactor-relevant solutions that bring fusion energy closer to reality.
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Kevin Verhaegh