One of longest-running physics jokes is that, despite numerous promising breakthroughs, practical nuclear fusion will forever be 30 years away. Earlier this year, there was an exciting result in the UK that suggests that – sooner or later – fusion scientists will have the last laugh. The Joint European Torus (JET) nuclear-fusion experiment based in Oxfordshire, UK, more than doubled the amount of sustained fusion energy produced in a single “shot” – smashing a previous record that JET has held since 1997.

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Ignition pending

In this episode of the Physics World Stories podcast, Andrew Glester catches up with two engineers from the UK Atomic Energy Authority to learn more about this latest development. Leah Morgan, a physicist-turned-engineer explains why JET’s recent success is great news for the the ITER project – a larger experimental fusion reactor currently under construction in Cadarache, France. Later in the episode, mechanical design engineer Helena Livesey talks about the important role of robotics for accessing equipment within the extreme conditions inside a tokamak device.

To hear from more scientists about the quest for practical nuclear fusion, you can also listen to this episode from Physics World’s 30th anniversary podcast series.