Brad Nelson

Brad Nelson is the Chief Engineer for the U.S. ITER Project He coordinates engineering support for the U.S. ITER and various Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Fusion Energy Division (FED) projects. He interfaces with the projectsπ partner laboratories and with the ITER international organization.

Brad has more than 30 years of experience in the design and analysis of experimental fusion energy research facilities and components. Since 1999 he has served as leader of the engineering group for the ORNL Fusion Energy Division. He has contributed to the engineering design of several magnetic fusion research facilities and devices. He played a leading role in the design of the Advanced Toroidal Facility, the largest stellarator in the world at the time of its completion. Brad also had design roles with the Large Coil Test Facility and was responsible for the design of the Plasma Facing Components for the National Spherical Torus Experiment.

He was involved in both the ITER Conceptual Design Activity and the projectπs Engineering Design Activity in the areas of design integration, vacuum vessel design, blanket and shield design, and the vacuum vessel R&D program. Currently he is contributing to the design of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment as the engineering manager for the stellarator core. He also served as engineering manager for the Quasi-Poloidal Stellarator.

Brad is the author of numerous papers in journals and conference proceedings. He has both B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri.