Turbulence Modeller

About the role

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference? Join our team and contribute to the future of fusion energy. As Turbulence Modeller , you will play a pivotal role in developing and applying advanced computational tools to model turbulence and transport in high beta burning plasmas. You will focus on creating and refining reduced (quasilinear) models to capture key physics of turbulent transport efficiently, providing essential insights for optimising next-generation fusion pilot plants (FPP). This work is integral to UKAEA's ambitious STEP programme to design a compact fusion reactor foreseen to operate in a non-inductive high beta plasma regime. In addition, UKAEA operates MAST-U, which as one of the world's leading spherical tokamaks, is highly suitable for exploring the physics basis for STEP. The plasma regimes envisaged for FPPs like STEP push beyond the range of validity of reduced models of turbulent transport. These models therefore require further development. In this endeavour, UKAEA has strong collaborations with UK universities as well as other international programmes in Europe and worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Exploit codes that include physics required to model turbulence in high beta burning plasmas, e.g. fast alpha fusion products, electromagnetic fluctuations, flows etc.
• Build/refine reduced models to describe the turbulent transport obtained from higher fidelity models.
• May propose and participate in relevant experiments on MAST-U or other devices.
• Report results regularly via reports, and presentations both internally and to collaborators.
• Disseminate outputs at conferences and in journals where appropriate.
• Collaborate with turbulence modellers, developers and experimentalists based at UKAEA and in external collaborating organisations.
• Essential Requirements:
• PhD (or equivalent experience) in relevant field.
• Experience in numerical modelling and/or validation of plasma turbulence models.
• PhD level of knowledge of plasma turbulence transport.
• Interest in model validation by testing models against experiment.
• Experience in a high-level programming language e.g. Python, MATLAB .
• Self-driven researcher.
• Good team player.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Relevant publications.
• A full list of our benefits can be found here https://careers.ukaea.uk/life-at-ukaea/employee-benefits/
• UK Atomic Energy Authority is committed to being accessible. Please email talent@ukaea.uk if you have any questions or require help or adjustments to compete on a fair basis, for example, changes to the way we interview or share information.
• Please note that vacancies are generally advertised for 4 weeks but may close earlier if we receive a large number of applications.

Benefits

Additional Information

The salary for this role is £48,290 (inclusive of a Specialist Allowance) . O nsite working is expected for 3 days a week, however, we actively support requests for flexible working. This role can be based at any of the following sites: Culham, Oxfordshire. This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) , including The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions and possibly a search of open source data.

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