A question mark hangs over a world-leading laboratory that has pioneered research into fusion for nearly 40 years. The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy near Oxford is largely funded by the EU and dozens of its scientists come from outside the UK. Since the vote for Brexit, many at the centre have become “extremely nervous” amid uncertainty about future financing and freedom of movement. Five researchers have already returned to continental Europe with others said to be considering their positions. Fusion is the process that powers the Sun and a decades-long quest has attempted to replicate it here on Earth to provide a clean source of energy. Since the 1970s, the Culham centre has hosted an experimental reactor known as the Joint European Torus (JET) that holds the global record for sustaining the longest burst of fusion.
BBC 29th Nov 2016 read more »