Research Activities EFDA - JET
The centrepiece of the EFDA fusion research programme is the European JET experiment - based at Culham Science Centre in the UK - which is supported by many smaller devices at the EFDA association laboratories. As the largest operating tokamak in the world, JET is the only device that can use the fusion fuels that will be employed in a power station (two heavy forms of hydrogen - deuterium and tritium) and it routinely achieves plasma conditions required for fusion power production. Indeed, JET holds the world record for fusion power (16MW) which is ~70% of the power required to heat the plasma.
The JET programme is very much focussed on providing valuable scientific and engineering data for ITER - the international 'next step' device to be built in Cadarache in France over the next ten years or so. ITER is an international collaboration between seven parties (EU, Japan, Russia, USA, South Korea, India and China) and, because of its increased size and technological capability, is expected to produce 500MW of fusion power - ten times that needed to heat the plasma. ITER will focus largely on systems integration and demonstration of the technologies and engineering required to construct a reliable and robust first fusion power plant. To help with this, an extensive materials testing programme is planned in parallel with ITER - centred on IFMIF - a dedicated neutron materials testing facility.
Utilising results from ITER and IFMIF should enable the first demonstration fusion powerplant to be placing fusion electricity on the grid ~2030 - offering a valuable additional energy option for the middle of the century.