FOSTER Summer Placement - ST40 Pellet Studies

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!

ST40 is the world’s highest field spherical tokamak and is performing scientific experiments to advance the fundamental physics understanding of the spherical tokamak. ST40 has an ambitious scientific programme, and as part of this we are planning on adding a pellet fuelling system. This system produces frozen deuterium ice and then accelerates it using pneumatics, injecting the deuterium ice directly into the tokamak plasma. The ice oblates as it interacts with the plasma, fuelling the tokamak. The advantage of pellet fulling as opposed to gas puffs is that pellets directly fuel the plasma core, whereas gas puffing only fuels the plasma edge. Consequently, pellet fuelling produces a steep density gradient from the core to the edge, which suppresses certain micro-instabilities, increasing the energy confinement time.

In this project we would like the successful student to contribute into the pellet research at Tokamak Energy. The duties and scope of the placement can include but not be limited to

1. Study how different pellet parameters (speed, size, frequency, timing, pellet composition) affect the plasma performance and scenarios
2. Study how different diagnostic measurements differ before and after pellet launch
3. Validate that the pellet physics simulation models we plan on using are in agreement with literature.

In this role, you will:

1. Analyse how pellet parameters (speed, size, frequency, timing, and composition) influence plasma performance and scenarios on the ST40.
2. Investigate changes in diagnostic measurements before and after pellet injection to evaluate their effect on plasma behaviour.
3. Validate pellet physics simulation models by comparing them against experimental data from the ST40 and relevant literature.
4. Assist in designing and optimizing pellet injection experiments to enhance ST40’s performance and scientific outcomes.
5. Document and present your findings to support Tokamak Energy’s research into advanced pellet fuelling systems.

Requirements

• Studying a relevant Degree or Masters – Physics/Math/CS/Mechanical engineering, for example

• Ideally some knowledge of software – know your way around code, basics of debugging. Most of our software is in Python.

• Nice to have – enthusiastic about energy or sustainability. Or perhaps you are enthusiastic about something else? Tell us about it!
• Any fusion knowledge is appreciated but not required
• Willingness to present your findings and results to small audiences

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/