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Since its inauguration in 1983 in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the European tokamak JET has cemented its reputation as "one of the most important machines in the history of fusion energy research," according to Ian Chapman, CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority. On 18 January 2022, the machine ran its 100,000th plasma pulse.

JET, for Joint European Torus, is the focal point of the European fusion research program, designed to study fusion in conditions approaching those needed for a power plant. It is the only experiment that can operate with the deuterium-tritium fuel mix that will be used for commercial fusion power (and in ITER).

In 1997 JET successfully produced a world record 22.5 megajoules of fusion energy and 16 megawatts of fusion power during the first dedicated deuterium-tritium experiments, proving large amounts of power can be produced from fusion.

In 2011 JET was equipped with a new ITER-like inner wall made of beryllium and tungsten metals, enabling scientists to develop plasma scenarios that resemble as closely as possible those planned for ITER, investigate the interaction of the plasma with wall materials, and study the accumulation of tungsten from the wall in the plasma core.

In 2021, JET carried out a second full-power run of experiments using deuterium and tritium. Stay tuned: the results from these experiments will be announced in early February 2022.

The JET facilities located at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) in Abingdon, Oxfordshire UK, are collectively used by all European fusion laboratories under the EUROfusion consortium. About 350 scientists from EU countries (plus Switzerland, the UK and Ukraine), and more from around the globe, participate in JET experiments each year. CCFE is responsible for operating the facility for fusion researchers and for maintaining and upgrading it. This work is carried out under a contract between the European Commission and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (CCFE's operator). 

The ITER community congratulates the JET team on its 100,000th pulse!

Thesis supervisors are invited to nominate a student for the 2021 FuseNet Master Thesis Prize by 10 February 2022.

FuseNet will award the prizes to students who write outstanding Master's theses that were (at least partially) carried out and completed across Europe. The prizes serve to highlight the important research that is carried out by dedicated and talented fusion students.

As a prize, the winners will be invited to present their work as a poster at the 48th European Physical Society Conference of Plasma Physics held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from 27 June to 1 July 2022. Travel, subsistence, and fees will all be covered by FuseNet.

Learn more about the prize on the FuseNet website.

The size and weight of major ITER components, the careful handling, tiny assembly tolerances, the breadth of manufacturers, the tight schedule, complex interfaces ... all of these elements combine to make the assembly of the ITER machine an engineering and logistics challenge of enormous proportions.

In this new ITER Talks video, two members of the Construction Domain—Jens Reich (Ex-Vessel Delivery & Assembly Division Head) and Brian Macklin (Group Leader for Ex-Vessel Assembly)—describe how teams have planned for the assembly of the 23,000-tonne ITER machine, how the sequences are unfolding, what the main challenges are, and what lessons have been learned since the first machine assembly activity was launched in 2018.

Watch the fifth episode of the ITER Talks here.

See the full ITER Talks playlist on YouTube here.

The ITER Organization has launched the procurement for the Hot Cell Facility Project Integrator. 

The ITER Hot Cell Facility is the maintenance and refurbishment facility supporting tokamak operation. The role of the Project Integrator will be to prepare and promote the collaboration to realize the ITER Hot Facility, working with both the clients and first-tier contractors through all project phases.

For companies interested in learning more about the Hot Cell Facility Project Integrator contract, a virtual procurement Information Day will be organized on 24 January 2022. 

Register here by 20 January.

The deadline for this Call for Nomination is 28 January 2022. 

Recruitment opens TODAY for the 2022 Monaco-ITER Postdoctoral Fellowship campaign. The ITER Organization is looking for five postdoctoral candidates in the fields of fusion science or engineering for two-year positions based in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France (ITER Headquarters).

If your PhD was awarded after 1 January 2019—or you are about to obtain one—and you are interested in participating in one of the greatest scientific and technical challenges of the 21st century, this may be an opportunity for you.

The positions are funded by the Principality of Monaco, which signed a Partnership Arrangement with the ITER Organization in 2008 and renewed its sponsorship in 2018 for ten years. Candidates must have an excellent track record of creativity and accomplishment in their chosen fields.

The campaign closes on 1 March 2022. For more information see the Monaco-ITER Fellowships page. To apply, see the ITER Jobs page.

The CERN Courier just released its 2022 In Focus report on vacuum science, technology and innovation. In it, there is a four-page report on vacuum science at ITER featuring Vacuum Section Leader Robert Pearce.

"Design, construction, commissioning, operation and upgrade: the life-cycle of large-scale scientific vacuum systems informs the exclusive coverage in this CERN Courier In Focus report," writes the editor. "Think technology innovation and implementation on an ambitious canvas like ITER's sprawling vacuum ecosystem, a core building block in the international research effort to transform nuclear fusion into an at-scale energy proposition (pp. 20-22)."

[...]"When it becomes operational later this decade, the ITER fusion research project will be dependent on one of the most complex vacuum systems ever built. Joe McEntee checks out progress with ITER vacuum section leader Robert Pearce, while highlighting the downstream commercial opportunities already spinning out from the core construction programme."

You can read the report here.

Watch a recent ITER TALK on vacuum here.

Applications are open through 31 January 2022 for the 2022-2024 program; students from all over the world are encouraged to apply.

The Erasmus Mundus European Master of Science in Nuclear Fusion and Engineering Physics (FUSION-EP) aims to provide a high-level multinational research-oriented education in fusion-related engineering or physics in close relation to the research activities of the partners (7 universities and 24 partners (including the ITER Organization) in 12 countries.

This master degree is a unique opportunity for the selected students to study in two different European countries and to discover and work at major fusion research facilities during the two years' programme.

The very international curriculum, the high quality and completeness of the curriculum and the high selectivity of FUSION-EP allowed it to be selected as an EMJMD by the Executive Agency for Culture, Education and Audiovisual. The EACEA provides a number of full scholarships for the best-ranked applicants.

Apply now for a start in September 2022.

For more information or to apply, see the Fusion-EP website.