Happy birthday, JET!

On 25 June over 100 JET staff, past and present, came together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of JET's first pulse — Day 1.

Paul-Henri Rebut, who had led the design team from its inception in 1973 and who went on to become the second JET Director gave a fascinating talk on the development of the project. (download a PDF of the talk).

Francesco Romanelli, the current director, talked of JET's progress to date and particularly its role in relation to ITER: "During the ITER construction phase JET will remain the best asset of the world fusion community. JET is the machine closest to the ITER parameters and the only one that can use Tritium and Beryllium. In the next years, until the upgrade of JT60-U is completed, JET will be the largest tokamak of its class in operation and therefore will be the ideal machine where the scientists who will collaborate on ITER can start working together to develop a common strategy on ITER scenarios, where natural leaderships can emerge and where researchers can be trained on how to operate a multi-MA device. To this aim JET is further opening to the participation of all the other ITER Parties."