CCFE both maintains and operates the Joint European Torus (JET) at Culham on behalf of its European partners as well as actively participating in the JET fusion research programme. British experts, together with their colleagues from Europe and from around the world, explore fusion as a safe, clean, and virtually limitless energy source for future generations.

Fusion powers the sun and stars. In order to release fusion energy on Earth, plasma (fully ionised gas) must be kept under extreme temperatures. JET and Mega-Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST) are UK based examples of fusion experiments where physicists and engineers are attempting to produce, confine and characterise plasmas at hundreds of millions of degrees.

What makes JET different is that it is the largest magnetic confinement fusion research facility in the world. It has also a unique capability for operating with the future reactor fuel, tritium, and JET holds the world record of 16MW fusion power. JET is ideal for testing plasma facing materials as well as testing heating prototypes and diagnostic prototypes under realistic fusion conditions.

The exceptional scientific results of JET together with expertise gained in the collective use of the JET facility have allowed Europe to play a key role in plans for the larger, globally-funded ITER facility that aims to produce a massive 500-700MW of fusion power. ITER is to be built at Cadarache, in Southern France.

CCFE also has a UK only fusion programme, centred on the pioneering MAST. MAST, like JET, aims to confine and control a plasma at millions of degrees C, but differs in its configuration.  It holds the plasma in a more compact, and in principle more efficient, configuration compared to JET; one that may form the basis of second or third generation fusion power stations if experimental results continue to be encouraging.