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Last month European Fusion researchers received good news from Brussels. After months of negotiations between the European Parliament and the European Commission the research and innovation budget was agreed on. EFDA and JET Leader, Francesco Romanelli, was pleased with the support being shown to the present European fusion programme “We have been working hard to shape the programme to the requirements of Horizon 2020. Despite some cuts to the proposed budget in the EFDA Roadmap to the realisation of fusion energy the approval of the EU fusion budget has marked a crucial milestone. We can now build our activities in Horizon 2020 on solid ground.”

Of great importance for European Fusion Laboratories in general and for the Joint European Torus, JET, in particular was the news that, within the research budget, funds were sufficient for a vibrant programme of activities, including the strong support of JET to ITER.

And if a demonstration of the crucial importance of JET was needed, it came, also last week, from the ITER Council. They announced that ITER would start with the same inner wall material as in JET. The decision will save ITER several hundred million Euros and was a direct consequence of successful experiments with the ITER-like wall in JET in recent years.

Lorne Horton, Head of the JET Department in EFDA commented: ‘The ITER Organization is continuously requesting support, knowing that the experiment has unique capabilities and a highly trained and experienced staff at their disposal. We want ITER to deliver what it is being built for.’

Source: EFDA