The 2026 Icy Durham Practical Course (CDT in Fusion Power)

These students are part of the EPSRC funded CDT in Fusion Power (https://fusion-cdt.ac.uk/). Much of their time was spent in the laboratories learning about HTS superconductors, cryogenics, nanovolt measurements in high magnetic fields, data acquisition and analysis while making critical current measurements at ~ 100 A, ~ 0.5 T, and 77 K (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6668/adf3ea). They also completed a short workshop focused on developing their skills using computation to optimise magnet design. In addition to the heroic effort from the staff and researchers in Durham, visiting lecturers (Alex Blair (UKAEA), Charles Monroe (Monroe Brothers) and Stuart Wimbush (UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd)) helped make the workshop a success. The lectures provided the context for the practical and computational work on: Health and Safety; Superconductivity for fusion; Cryogenics; Computational magnet design; and HTS cables and fusion magnets. The course was rounded off by a short tour of Durham Cathedral. In the context of the UK Government's commitment to achieve net zero, Durham’s Cathedral and Castle were both a reminder of the UK's long history of world-class science and engineering, which led to many discussions at that evening’s dinner about moving from fossil fuels to fusion technology, and building the STEP fusion tokamak (https://www.edfenergy.com/media-centre/news-releases/bright-future-west-burton-site-looks-move-fossil-fuel-fusion).

Durham staff and researchers: Prof. Damian Hampshire and Dr. Mark Raine. Prof. Rifa El-Khozondar, Rollo Hutson, Daniel Scobbie, Yahya Nasir and Freddie Daniels. Clare Chadwick, Andrew Davies, Vicki Greener and David Pattinson (Group activities: https://superconductivitydurham.webspace.durham.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/226/2022/06/Durham-Superconductivity-High-Current-Facilities-2022Feb.pdf).