Control of novel power exhaust solutions in nuclear fusion

Bob Kool defended his PhD thesis at the Department of Mechanical Engineering on March 5.

Nuclear fusion is widely regarded as a promising future energy source. Yet realizing fusion power comes with major challenges such as the power exhaust problem. In the core of a nuclear fusion reactor, hydrogen gas is heated to extreme temperatures to form a plasma in which particles fuse together. This plasma is confided with a tokamak, a carefully shaped magnetic cage. Interaction with the reactor wall occurs in a dedicated exhaust region known as the divertor, but the immense heat and particle loads in this region greatly exceed material limits. In his PhD research, Bob Kool explores the control of power exhaust in alternative divertor configurations (ADCs) for the next generation of fusion reactors.