Over the past year or two nuclear fusion made its way into the headlines not least in early 2022, when researchers at the JET (Joint European Torus) experiment reported a breakthrough in terms of generating energy.

Finding new and sustainable energy sources is more important than ever. And what better way than to harness energy like our very own sun does.
Enter Dr Adam Stephen, senior software engineer at the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s lab in Culham. Adam and his team and collaborators are working hard to overcome the engineering challenges and help make nuclear fusion a safe and sustainable way of producing energy. Amongst the work they do are building and designing real time systems and in my conversation we talk about some of the challenges they face.

Links to follow up on the conversation

• https://ccfe.ukaea.uk UK Atomic Energy Authority Fusion site
• https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/research/mast-upgrade/ UKAEA Mast: plasma exhaust system
• https://rt.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ real time Linux
• https://vcis.f4e.europa.eu/marte2-docs/master/html/ MARTe2 documentation
• https://github.com/aneto0/MARTe2 MARTe2 GitHub repo
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_twin Digital twin technology

Selection of general announcements from 2022

• https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/09/nuclear-fusion-heat-record-a-huge-step-in-quest-for-new-energy-source Guardian UK on breakthrough in JET experiment Feb 2022
• https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/03/15/fact-sheet-developing-a-bold-vision-for-commercial-fusion-energy/ White House (US) summit on nuclear fusion announcement

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