Скачать или смотреть 50 years on: The mission to Moscow that changed fusion research

Fifty years ago, five scientists from UKAEA's Culham Laboratory made a trip to the Soviet Union that was to prove a pivotal moment in the quest for fusion energy.

Their journey to Moscow’s Kurchatov Institute in 1969 confirmed the impressive results of the Soviets’ T3 experiment – a relatively new type of fusion device known as a ‘tokamak’. The Culham team measured plasma temperatures of 10 million degrees at T3; far in excess of any previous fusion machine and a big step towards the conditions needed for fusion power. The emergence of the tokamak was a huge boost for fusion research and opened the way to machines like JET, ITER and a viable route to future powerplants.

We interviewed Dr Mike Forrest, one of the members of the team, to mark the 50th anniversary of the mission.