The final deuterium-tritium experiments at the Joint European Torus (JET) have started at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) located in Culham, Oxfordshire.
JET is considered the world’s largest and most powerful operational tokamak, uniquely capable of incorporating tritium into its fuel mix.
Managed by UKAEA, JET serves as a collaborative resource for all European fusion laboratories under the EUROfusion consortium.
Dubbed ‘DTE3’, the planned experiments are scheduled for a seven-week duration and are geared towards three key domains: plasma science, materials science and neutronics.
The fruits of JET’s research are instrumental in the progress of ITER, a more advanced iteration of JET and a mega-project in fusion research.
ITER garners support from seven member entities – China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US – and is based in southern France.
Its aim is to further validate the scientific and technological viability of fusion energy.
Joelle Mailloux, JET Science Programme Leader at UKAEA, said: “There has been real excitement ahead of the start of the DTE3 campaign and about the opportunity to study areas of science important to the design and operation of the next generation of fusion machines.
“The DTE3 programme is based on decades of research and, with the DTE2 results, will play a vital part in shaping the future of fusion.”
