Speaker
Description
This talk will provide an overview about the nuclear fusion landscape as of 2026 with special emphasis on magnetic confinement devices. There has been a lot of movement in the past 5 years, particularly with private funding entering the scene at a massive scale. The two main concepts, the Tokamak and Stellarator, will be introduced and their particular challenges outlined. The second part of the presentation will look at the challenges pertaining to real-time control and discuss these based on three examples. Shape and vertical stability control, density control and finally the protection of the first wall and divertor from overheating. As with many fields, artificial intelligence has also seen a huge popularity in fusion and the resulting impact and opportunities for control in fusion devices will also be discussed.