Milestones

1973
Beginning of design work

1977
Culham site is chosen and the construction work begins

25th June 1983
Very first plasma achieved at JET

9th April 1984
JET officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

9th November 1991
The world’s first controlled release of fusion energy

1993
JET converted to divertor configuration

1997
World record! JET produces 16 megawatts of fusion power. 65 per cent of the heating energy used is recovered. The fusion energy generated is 14 megajoules.

1998
Remote handling first used for in-vessel work

2000
The collective use of JET and its scientific programme becomes managed through the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA)

2006
JET starts operation with ITER-like magnetic configurations

2009-2011
Installation of the ITER-Like Wall (beryllium and tungsten)

2011 onwards
Experimenting with the new ITER-like wall

2021
World record: With the ITER-like wall, JET generates 59 megajoules of fusion energy from a stable deuterium-tritium plasma