This course requires fundamentals in:

• Electromagnetism – electric and magnetic field, Maxwell’s equations, electromagnetic waves and Lorentz forces on charged particles
• Fluid dynamics – fluid flow, viscosity and conservation laws will be helpful in grasping magnetohydrodynamics concepts 
• Python programming – notably using scientific packages numpy, scipy and matplotlib

The current global context sees a revival of the interest in nuclear fusion for energy production. The decade-ongoing ITER project is now being competed by Chinese domestic tokamaks BEST (expected for 2027) and CFETR (construction started in 2020). Numerous private companies across the world are also leading researches in novel architectures of compact fusion tokamaks, leveraging the properties of new high-temperature superconducting materials. Commonwealth Fusion Systems is for example claiming a beginning of the operation on their compact SPARC tokamak in late 2026.

This one-week introductory course aims at giving the participants a basic understanding of the techniques envisioned and the challenges associated with the production of energy through nuclear fusion.

The course will cover both the basic physics of plasmas and the technological and engineering aspects of fusion reactors. It will be heavily focused on nuclear fusion achieved through magnetic confinement and on the tokamak architecture, as it they constitute today the most technologically mature path towards fusion. It will nevertheless brush on the diverse alternate strategies and machine designs that are currently being explored.

The theoretical lectures will be complemented by a practical group project. The students will be guided through the conceptual design of a tokamak, from the plasma characteristics, to the simulation of the magnetic field and the mechanical stresses in the reactor structure. This practical part will rely on analytical 0D calculations and numerical simulations using Python and open-source software.

The course will be composed of theoretical lectures on the following topics:

• An initial introduction to the stakes of nuclear fusion as an energy source for the future
• A physics section devoted to hot magnetized plasmas, covering most notably:
• The magnetohydrodynamics notions of equilibrium and stability
• The transport and confinement of plasmas.
• An engineering section focusing on the most widespread architecture of fusion reactor, the Tokamak, and highlighting its key technological components:
• Superconducting coils for magnetic confinement;
• Plasma heating components;
• Tritigenic covers for in-situ 3H production;
• Extraction of heat and particle fluxe
• An overview of alternative designs for nuclear fusion reactors.

The students will also participate in a group project with the aim of designing a tokamak reactor from a prescribed specification. The conceptual design will involve using analytical and numerical calculations using Python and the open-source magnetic simulation software RAT.

The course will be graded through a combination of a final exam on the theoretical knowledges and the continuous evaluation of the practical group project.