Joint European Torus - Operating History

Operating History

In 1970 the Council of the European Community decided in favour of a robust fusion programme and provided the necessary legal framework for a European fusion device to be developed. Three years later, the design work began for the JET machine. In 1977 the construction work began and at the end of the same year a former Fleet Air Arm airfield at Culham in the UK was selected as the site for the JET project. In 1978 the "JET Joint Undertaking" was established as a legal entity. Only five years later the construction was completed on time and on budget. On 25 June 1983 the very first JET plasma was achieved and on 9 April 1984 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II officially opened this European fusion experiment.

In the history of fusion research the year 1991 is particularly significant: on the 9th November a Preliminary Tritium Experiment achieved the world’s first controlled release of fusion power. Six years later, in 1997, another world record was achieved at JET: 16 mega watts of fusion power were produced from a total input power of 24 mega watts – a 65% ratio. This is equivalent to a release of 22 mega joules of energy.

A “Remote Handling” system is, in general, an essential tool for any subsequent fusion power plant and especially for the future experimental reactor, ITER. In 1998 JET’s engineers developed a remote handling system with which, for the first time, it was possible to exchange certain components using artificial hands only.

In 1999 the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) was established with responsibility for the future collective use of JET. With the turn of the millennium the "Joint Undertaking" ended and the JET Facilities commenced operating under contract by CCFE(at that time UKAEA). From then, JET’s scientific programme was determined by EFDA. The sturdiness and flexibility of JET’s original design has made it possible for the device to evolve with the interests of the fusion community and meet the requirements of ITER. JET was converted to Divertor configuration in 1993 and started operation with ITER-like magnetic configurations in 2006. From October 2009 to May 2011 the ITER-Like Wall was installed.

JET was originally set up by Euratom with a discriminatory employment system that allowed non-British staff to be employed at more than twice the salaries of their British equivalents. The British staff eventually had this practice declared illegal, and substantial damages were paid at the end of 1999 to UKAEA staff (and later to some contractors). This was the immediate cause of the ending of Euratom's operation of the facility.

In December 1999, JET's international contract ended and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) then took over managing the safety and operation of the JET facilities on behalf of its European partners. From that time (2000), JET's experimental programme was then co-ordinated by the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) Close Support Unit.

JET operated throughout 2003, with the year culminating in experiments using small amounts of tritium. For most of 2004, JET was shut down for a series of major upgrades, increasing its total available heating power to over 40 MW, enabling further studies relevant to the development of ITER to be undertaken. In late September 2006, the C16 experimental campaign was started, with the objective of studying ITER-like operation scenarios.

In October 2009, a 15-month shutdown period was started, and improvements were made to the tokamak, including replacing carbon components in the vacuum vessel with tungsten and beryllium ones, to bring JET's components more in line with those planned for ITER. Heating power was also increased by 50%, bringing the neutral beam power available to the plasma up to 34MW, and diagnostic and control capabilities were improved. In total, over 86,000 components were changed in the torus during the shutdown.

In mid-May 2011, the shutdown reached its end. The first experimental campaign after the installation of the “ITER-Like Wall” started on 2 September 2011.