FOSTER Summer Placement - Divertor Geometry Optimisation

The FOSTER programme's enhanced internship scheme provides students an opportunity to gain work experience within the growing UK fusion industry. The FOSTER programme is looking to build the talent pipeline into the industry. Over the past three years, 83 students have participated in placements in 20 host organisations around the UK, with many receiving offers of employment after their graduation.

Tokamak Energy are fully committed to building talent within the fusion industry and excited to offer internship opportunities across our business. The placement will give you valuable experience working within a commercial fusion company alongside talented experts within the field, building both your technical and business knowledge.    

Placements at Tokamak Energy also give students the opportunity to regularly collaborate not only with our employees, but crucially with other members of your cohort. We recognise the value of creating a supportive learning environment to enable you to explore the subjects and skills that you are passionate about. This is your chance to dive into the world of Fusion Energy and help shape the future of sustainable energy!

During this project you will develop computational tools to be used in the design of the heat exhaust management system, also known as the divertor, in the next generation of tokamak devices. The power loading onto the divertor is influenced by both the geometry of the divertor surfaces themselves, as well as the geometry of the magnetic fields in the divertor region. You will develop tools to optimise these geometries using adjoint method-based optimisation techniques, enabling the optimisation cost function gradient to be efficiently computed. By developing such tools, you will contribute directly towards the integrated design of future tokamak devices, and in the process interface with a diverse range of experts.

In this role, you will:

• Develop optimisation tools for use in the design of tokamak divertors.
• Integrate such tools into existing integrated modelling workflows.
• Work closely with experts from a variety of technical disciplines.
• Present your work to your colleagues and peers.

Requirements

• Studying a relevant degree (Bachelor’s/Master’s) in physics, mathematics or engineering.

• Knowledge of electromagnetism.

• Ideally some knowledge of numerical optimisation techniques.
• Comfortable with programming in the Python and/or Julia programming languages.
• Familiar with version control using GitHub/GitLab
• A strong mathematical aptitude.
• Motivated and enthusiastic with the ability to work independently.

• Good communication skills with the ability to work collaboratively with team members.

• Good planning and organisation skills.
• Communicating and relating to others (oral / written).
• Decision-making, problem-solving, planning and organising.

Benefits

• 6 days holiday (plus bank holidays)
• The placement has a maximum duration of 10 weeks.
• The salary is £23,809 per annum, pro-rated and paid monthly.
• Accommodation cover aren't offered for the student placements.
• Cohort experience
• This is a fantastic opportunity to get a closer look at what we do, the work environment, and the exciting roles we have available.
• Advert closes 31 March 2025.
• Please check you are eligible via this link on the UKAEA website: https://careers.ukaea.uk/early-careers/foster-summer-internship/