JET Sets New Record

Fusion power holds the promise of abundant energy generation without the release of climate-damaging greenhouse gases whilst, unlike nuclear fission, producing only small quantities of short-lived radioactive waste. Nuclear fusion is the source of the Sun's power, but recreating nuclear fusion under controlled conditions to generate power on Earth has been the subject of research all around the world for over sixty years.

One of the oldest and most successful projects is hosted not far from J A Kemp LLP's Oxford office: the Joint European Torus (JET) at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. Since the 1970s, JET has been at the forefront of fusion research. Recently, JET smashed its own 1997 record for the most energy ever produced in a sustained fusion reaction. The new record of 59 megajoules from a five second reaction is nearly three times the previous record of 21.7 megajoules.