CNERG / Members of CNERG Community

Connor Moreno

PhD Dissertator, GERS

camoreno@wisc.edu

3rd Floor
1500 Engineering Dr
Madison, WI 53706

Current Work

As the subject of his PhD dissertation, Connor is currently investigating the application of numerical optimization methods to stellarator fusion power plant design. This optimization methodology development focuses on the modification of plant breeding blanket and shielding systems and the corresponding effects on neutronics performance for a given stellarator magnetic configuration. This project leverages his previous work developing the open-source parametric modeling toolset ParaStell.

Publications

• Connor Moreno, Aaron Bader, and Paul Wilson, “ParaStell: parametric modeling and neutronics support for stellarator fusion power plants,” Frontiers in Nuclear Engineering, 3:1384788 (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fnuen.2024.1384788.
• Joshua Ruegsegger, Connor Moreno, Matthew Nyberg, Tim D. Bohm, Paul P. H. Wilson, and Ben Lindley, “Scoping Studies for a Lead-Lithium-Cooled, Minor-Actinide-Burning, Fission-Fusion Hybrid Reactor Design,” Nuclear Science and Engineering, 197 (2023). DOI: 10.1080/00295639.2022.2154118.

Conference and Meeting Presentations

• Connor Moreno, Edgar Pflug, Joshua Smandych, Eitan Weinstein, Syn Hubbard, Aaron Bader, and Paul Wilson, “Facilitating Stellarator Power Plant Design with Parametric Modeling Capability,” presented at the 26th Technology of Fusion Energy Meeting (TOFE 2024), Madison, Wisconsin, June 21-25, 2024.
• Connor Moreno and Paul Wilson, “Parametric Modeling of Stellarator Blankets,” presented at the Fusion Neutronics Meeting 2023, Knoxville, Tennessee, January 23-27, 2023.

Research Interests

• Design and Analysis of Nuclear Power Systems
• Numerical Optimization Methods
• Parametric Modeling
• Neutronics Methods
• Nuclear Fusion Power
• Stellarators

Education

• University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI [PhD Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics, In-Progress]
• University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI [MS Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics, 2022]
• Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ [BS Physics, Minors in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics, 2019]

Current Projects

• HiFiStell
• Stellarator Breeding Blanket Design & Optimization