Pioneering nuclear-fusion reactor shuts down: what scientists will learn

Scientists have begun to decommission one of the world’s foremost nuclear-fusion reactors, 40 years after it began operations. Researchers will study the 17-year process of dismantling the Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, UK, in unprecedented detail — and use the knowledge to make sure future fusion power plants are safe and financially viable.

“We are starting to think seriously about a fusion power plant,” says Rob Buckingham, who leads on decommissioning for the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which oversees JET. “This means thinking about the whole plant life cycle.”

(continued) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00135-3