JET, the Joint European Torus, is the flagship of the European Community Fusion Programme. The experiment is based at Culham Science Centre, and the work is being carried out by a team of scientists from all the EU countries plus associated countries. Other international scientists also participate in the programme.

The JET programme was set up to make it possible to carry out fusion tests under conditions that closely resemble those of a commercial fusion power plant.

Knowledge gained from JET will provide valuable input into the design of "next step" devices such as ITER. The success of the JET programme is seen as an important step forward in developing commercial fusion power.

The Japanese JT-60 experiment and JET are the largest and most powerful fusion experiments in the world. But only JET is able to operate using the deuterium-tritium fuel mixture planned for future commercial power stations.

Construction of JET began in 1978 and the device has been in operation since 1983. In November 1991 JET became the first experiment to produce controlled fusion power. Further experiments carried out since then have provided useful information about the parameters needed for ITER. In 1997 JET operations included successful experiments using the mixed deuterium-tritium fuel, and reached a record 16 MW of fusion power.

In December 1999 the JET Joint Undertaking came to an end. The UKAEA has taken over the safety and operation of the JET facilities on behalf of its European partners. The experimental programme is being co-ordinated by the EFDA Close Support Unit, led by an EFDA JET Associate Leader based at Culham.

For more information, see the EFDA-JET website