If the next generation of experimental fusion facilities, such as Iter, prove the technology is viable at scale, researchers plan to build a European demonstration plant that generates more power than it uses.
Dr Aneeqa Khan, a research fellow in nuclear fusion at the University of Manchester, said: “These results are really exciting for the fusion community and a great end to the operations of JET which has provided the scientific community with really valuable data over its lifetime, feeding into the designs for new projects.
“However, to put this in context of commercial fusion, there was still no net energy produced.”
She added: “This is a great scientific result, but we are still a way off commercial fusion. We need to be training up a huge number of people with the skills to work in the field and I hope the technology will be used in the latter half of the century.”