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From a UKAEA press release on 20 December 2023.

Some 40 and a half years after its first pulse on 25 June 1983, JET delivered pulse number 105,842 on Tuesday 18 December 2023.

UKAEA Chief Executive Officer, Prof Sir Ian Chapman, who was in attendance in JET's control room for the final plasma experiment, said: "This is the final milestone in JET's 40-year history. Those decades of research using JET by dedicated teams of scientists and engineers have played a critical role in accelerating the development of fusion energy."

JET's final day of plasma continued to push scientific boundaries, firstly attempting an inverted plasma shape for the first time at Culham before deliberately aiming electrons at the inner wall to improve understanding of beam control and damage mechanisms. The findings of these experiments will support the development of ITER.

JET will now move on to the next phase of its life cycle in early 2024 for repurposing and decommissioning, which will last until approximately 2040.

JET was operated at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy as a Joint Undertaking of the European Community between 1977 and 2000, with the Euratom Research and Training program contributing approximately 80 percent of JET operation costs through 2021. Under the operation of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) since 2000, JET was used by 4,800 EUROfusion consortium experts, students and staff from across Europe.

--The JET control room on the day of final plasma experiments. Photo: UKAEA/EUROfusion

On Thursday 14 December, join in for Episode #2 of the IAEA Fusion Energy Webinar Series. "Fusion Energy at COP28: A promising emerging climate solution" will address the growing momentum worldwide behind fusion as a climate solution, as evidenced most recently at the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai.

Adam Danilowicz, of the IAEA, will moderate a panel with distinguished guests:

Scott Hsu, Senior Advisor and Lead Fusion Coordinator Office of the Under Secretary for Science & Innovation, US Department of Energy

Tim Bestwick, Chief Development Officer and Deputy CEO, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority 

Stephanie Diem, Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Andrew Holland, Chief Executive Officer of the Fusion Industry Association

See all information at this address.