Tokamak Energy has appointed new Director Liam Brennan to lead its magnets business into an exciting new era for the fusion energy pioneers.
The company is recognised as a world leader in high temperature superconductor (HTS) magnet design, numerical modelling and prototyping for fusion.
In collaboration with key manufacturing partners, Tokamak Energy is also focussed on becoming the leading HTS magnet supplier to other emerging markets, including propulsion in water, air and space, renewable energy, and science.
Liam joins the Oxfordshire-based company after spending the last eight years at the UK Research and Innovation Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which supports cutting edge research in astronomy, physics, computational science and space science.
As Head of Technology Transfer and Associate Director, he led a team focused on the exploitation of innovations and other commercial opportunities arising from the physical sciences research. He also oversaw the creation of two spinouts from idea identification to company formation after first joining as STFC’s Innovation Manager.
Warrick Matthews, Tokamak Energy CEO, said: “Liam has great experience in developing technologies and knowledge of licensing models. He brings lots of valuable experience to the business where we will adopt different strategies for the emerging markets for high temperature superconductors. We’re delighted he has joined at this significant time of growth for Tokamak Energy.”
Liam said: “I’m passionate about exploiting technology innovation to demonstrate and maximise real-world value. There are many interesting and exciting new opportunities for Tokamak Energy’s world-leading magnet technology, inside and outside of our mission to deliver clean, secure and affordable fusion energy in the next decade.”
Formed in 2009, Tokamak Energy is pursuing the global deployment of commercial fusion through the combined development of spherical tokamaks with HTS magnets.
It is the only private fusion company to have more than 10 years’ experience of designing, building and operating tokamaks, a machine that confines plasma – the hot hydrogen fuel – using strong magnetic fields.
Enabled by its HTS magnet technology, the spherical tokamak design is more efficient than the traditional ring doughnut shape, with lower capital investment, operating costs and a smaller footprint. For more information visit www.tokamakenergy.com/magnets.
