Petition to extend JET beyond 2023

Still going

Petition supporters have been writing to UK members of Parliament and government officials in both the UK and EU. 

We think at this point it may be prudent not to publish such letters nor the replies received, in the hope that discretion may help build trust.

Incredibly, there is hope yet.

The JET4fusion team

The fight for JET is not over !

Dear all,  

We are continuing the fight for JET. We did not yet receive any reply (from both UK nor EU) to the letters we sent in the last days.

So we sent out a next letter with the text added below.We are curious for the answer.

Emilia and Jef 

======  

Dear President of the EU Commission, Commissioners, DGs and DDGs, Advisors,  

We understand some of you may have been asked by the top of the EU Commission and the EU Parliament to comment on a possible JET extension.

We sincerely hope your response will include the following facts:

1. Underfunded fusion research will never happen. In the near term, EU fusion funding is insufficient; it cannot be increased by hoping for private investment. The amount required for adequate fusion funding is a small fraction of the EU energy budget. 

2. In EU, adequate ITER funding is the top priority.

3. The UK now has its own fusion programme, it is not interested in re-joining EURATOM or ITER at the moment.

4. Nevertheless, fusion collaboration between EU and UK would be mutually beneficial.

5. The decision to terminate JET funding, in 2016, was predicated on ITER starting operation now. This isn’t the case now. DT operation in ITER is now expected in 2039. Until then, JET is the only DT capable facility in Europe.

6. A 10 year programme of JET refurbishment, operation and upgrades can contribute significantly to fusion science and technology, for both EU and UK. Notably it would maintain and transmit know-how to the next generation. JET is worth €3-4 Billion. A suitable JET extension could be done with £100M/year, ideally until ITER DT operation begins.T

7. The UK would be willing to host a JET extension if external (EU) funding is provided.

8. JET destruction could be stopped if the EU (at the top level) asks the UK government for a pause. The sooner this is done (TODAY), the cheaper it will be. 

No doubt you will want to talk up other aspects/devices, especially technology: JT60-SA, IFMIF-DONES, VNS, DEMO, and geopolitical considerations: China, USA. We must insist: if forced to make choices between funding one facility and not others, we are delaying fusion in the EU, not accelerating it. 

This is a unique opportunity to change the EU fusion outlook. Please grab it.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO SAVE JET

Dear JET petition supporters,

We have learned earlier this week that the destruction of critical JET components could start in a few weeks. We need everybody's help, but especially now from UK supporters. Please write to your MPs and ask them to do what they can to signal to the UK government that it would be in the interest of the fusion programme to pause JET decommissioning at least for a few weeks.

We have taken the liberty of drafting a message you could send to your MPs, see below. Note that many fusion lab directors would not be pleased to learn that their employees, civil servants, are attempting to influence government. Speaking to MPs is your right, and maybe in this case you may feel it is your duty. If you are not a civil servant and do have high level government or media contacts, please use them. 

UK draft below, adapt as you will. We don't mention the petition in this draft, but feel free to do it if you think it would help.

Dear MP ...

As an individual fusion expert, I’m writing to ask for your help in an urgent situation within nuclear fusion research in the UK. As you may have heard, JET, located in Culham, is the most important fusion experiment in the world, with unique capabilities. JET was built as an EU research center, but ownership was transferred to the UK at the end of 2021. It was decided to operate it up until the end of 2023, and afterwards JET is expected to be destroyed. This is tragic, the next fusion experiments to be expected in the European continent will happen in 2039, in the international device ITER. The  loss of knowledge, expertise, new ground/breaking reaserch and training opportunities due to JET termination will do untold damage to the worldwide fusion effort.

The UK government is providing funding for construction of new fusion research devices, but the UKAEA has no funds to support JET operation, only Decommissioning and Repurposing. The JET Facilities are valued at about £3B, operation with necessary modifications might cost £100M/year for 10 years. European colleagues are attempting to reverse the EU part of the decision.

Matters are coming to a crunch, critical parts of JET are expected to be destroyed in the next few weeks. Afterward it would be much more expensive to recover, if at all possible.

Could you please find a way to urge the UK government to reconsider the instructions to the UKAEA, which are to proceed with JET destruction? JET continuation would be a win/win move for all, it could help the UK STEP programme and faciltate operation in ITER. We urgently need to find breathing time to allow the UK government to reassess earlier decisions. Members of the European Parliament are urging the EU Commission to review their part of the decisions.

I would be very grateful to your attention to this matter. If you would like more information, we could visit you at the surgery, or arrange a visit of JET via the UKAEA.

New developments, a glimmer of hope, updated

Dear JET petition supporters 

For your information, although we are very close to some critical decommissioning activities, JET isn’t dead yet.

Starting next week a few tiles will be removed by Remote Handling, for research purposes. They would need to be replaced eventually but we don’t consider this to be a show stopper yet.

On the other hand, the re-purposing plans for buildings J4 and J5 could have a large impact on JET survival, we need a very fast agreement.

We have been fortunate in that now there are Members of European Parliament actively seeking a renewed EU-UK collaboration to extend JET’s life.

Colleagues in the UK have also approached MPs and government.

A JET site visit for at least 1 MEP is being organised the 29th of October 2024. Sir Ian Chapman, UKAEA CEO, will be present.

We hoped to organise a presentation and round table discussion that day, but it won't happen onsite. We are considering what to do.

If you would like to be present do let us know by sending an email to jet.petition.2023 at gmail.com, please. It is likely going to be a small group of people, but it would be helpful to know of more supporters and volunteers on site.  

Emilia R. Solano and J. Ongena (writing as individual scientists, not representing the views of our institutions), for the JET petition supporters.  

EPS poster prize, paper to come, next moves

Dear JET petitioners,                                                                                                                                                                         

Thanks to the help of many of you (you know who you are) we presented at poster at the EPS Conference on Plasma Physics in Salamanca, 8-12 of July 2024. Conference participants culd rate the posters and our poster “A potential research programme for JET with a W wall and ECRH” was voted best poster of the conference. We like to think this means there is support for our proposal, at least amongst the researchers.

A journal has invited us to produce a proper refereed paper, we will be working on this through the summer. If you would like to contribute please get in touch. As usual, it’s up to you to become a named author or an acknowledged contributor or to remain anonymous.

On the petitioning side: we are now hoping UK colleagues will petition their brand new government to encourage UKAEA to issue an invitation for a renewed international JET programme. In the EU side we are waiting for new Commissioners to be named before we try again.

The JET petition team

JET petition in Salamanca EPS

Hello! If you are interested, we are presenting a poster at the EPS Plasma Physics Meeting in Salamanca tomorrow Monday from 14:30 to 16:15, titled "Potential research programme for JET with W wall and ECRH", with Emilia Solano as 1st author. If you are at EPS please drop by, we'll give away stickers with our logo to supporters. Also you can vote for us in the poster competition, it would increase our visibility.

You can see the poster here https://t.ly/aGqVU and the associated 4-page paper here https://t.ly/NnLMu 

Our heartfelk thanks to all that helped put this together, most of whom stay anonymous in these uncertain times.

The JET Petition Team

JET Petition at EPS, Salamanca, 8 July 2023

Dear supporters

We will be presenting a poster at the EPS Plasma Physics conference on Monday afternoon, P1.048, please have a look at it  here https://t.ly/aGqVU

It describes a possible research programme for JET, if extension and upgrades can happen. 

If you are at the conference please drop by, we have some stickers for you.

A clarification, since we keep being asked this: JET remains largely intact, at least until September. That's why we keep trying.

The JET Petition Team

Latest reply from EU: Ms. van der Vlies

Dear all

As said in the previous announcement, we wrote to Ms. van der Vlies, DG of Research and Innovation. We received a very short response from her, https://t.ly/yad4Z. In summary, she says "at this moment in time, the European Commission cannot financially support the extension of the operation of JET."

With UK elections upcoming, and likely changes in the European Commission, we will wait for new developments before trying again in the EU front. If any of you would like information to solicit funding elsewhere, don't hesitate to get in touch. 

The JET Petition Team

May 2024 reply to EU Fusion funding authorities

Dear JET extension petitioners

We continue our correspondence with the EU fusion funding authorities, this time discussing the true fundamental objection to JET continuation: money.

We again remind them of the value to the EU of the JET facilities, and propose they invest €100M in 2024-2026, as a first step towards an international collaboration with multiple partners and funding sources.

You can find a copy of the letter we sent on May 30th 2024 here https://t.ly/Iz3xx

Previous correspondence can be found in earlier Announcements.

The JET petition Team

Update on JET petition: EU response

Dear JET petition supporters,                  

     We haven't been in touch for quite a while, but we haven't been idle. On April 18, 2024, we sent letters to the European Commissioners that we thought would have an interest in changing the decision to close down JET.

     Letters were sent to (follow links to be redirected to each letter):

• Mr. M. Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight https://t.ly/8HR1V
• Monsieur Th. Breton, Commissaire Européen en charge du marché intérieur, de l'industrie, de l'entrepreneuriat et des PME  https://t.ly/zwex9
• Ms. K. Simson, European Commissioner for Energy  https://t.ly/31QeX
• Ms. I. Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth  https://t.ly/OaaDI  

    A reply came from Ms. Rosalinde van der Vlies, Clean Planet Director in the European Commission, RTD C  https://t.ly/VBVhu  

    Basically, we are being told again and again that the decision was already made, and JET now belongs to the UK. The new ingredient is that now we are informed that “the Commission is already implementing an ambitious fusion energy roadmap, to which its entire fusion budget is allocated. This includes contributions to ITER, the Broader Approach activities with Japan (and specifically the exploitation of JT60-SA) and the construction of IFMIF/DONES in Spain, and support to the EUROfusion co-funded partnership through the Euratom Research and Training Programme. In this context, therefore, the Commission cannot continue to support JET exploitation.”

    They confuse “cannot” with “will not”. Our message on the contrary is very clear: JET is presently the best tool for fusion expertise development, while its termination is a threat to the whole international fusion programme. The UKAEA would be willing to consider continuing operation with external funding. We are dismayed that they bluntly ignore those important messages in our carefully written letters. 

     We replied on May 30th 2024, this time discussing the true fundamental objection to JET continuation: money. We again remind them of the value to the EU of the JET facilities, and propose they invest €100M in 2024-2026, as a first step towards an international collaboration with multiple partners and funding sources. You can find a copy of the letter we sent on May 30th 2024 here https://t.ly/Iz3xx 

     Additionally we are working on the EPS poster proposing a future JET research programme. If you want to contribute to that please let us know what content you can provide (text, figures, references). The abstract can be found here https://t.ly/plpYW   

The JET Petition Team

JET4Fusion

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