Search Results

UK Tokamak Energy completes testing of Demo4 fusion high-temperature superconducting magnet system

On September 9, 2026, Tokamak Energy of the UK announced the completion of a 14-month testing campaign for its Demo4 fusion magnet system, validating the company's capabilities in the design, manufacture, integration, and operation of complete high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet systems. The technical experience gained from Demo4 testing is now being applied to the collaboration between Tokamak Energy and UK Fusion Energy (UKFE), supporting the development of HTS magnet systems for the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) fusion program. The results also target HTS commercial applications beyond fusion, and...

2026-09-09

Japan Selects Four Companies for Fusion Power Program

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has conditionally selected EX-Fusion, Helical Fusion, Linea Innovation, and Starlight Engine to participate in a fusion program targeting reactor operation in the 2030s. The program will provide approximately $370 million, equivalent to around €318 million, in subsidies to selected projects by the end of February 2029. Specific funding allocations are still subject to formal grant decisions. The support corresponds to commitments in Japan's 2023 fusion strategy, which sets out the goal of achieving fusion power in the 2030s...

2026-09-07

India's Private Fusion Tokamak PRAGYA Achieves Plasma Operation

Bengaluru-based deep-tech energy startup Pranos Fusion has produced plasma in its experimental device PRAGYA. The company states that PRAGYA is India's first compact tokamak developed by a private enterprise, marking a transition in India's private fusion research and development from the design and manufacturing phase to experimental operation. PRAGYA adopts a compact, low-aspect-ratio tokamak design, primarily used to generate, confine, and control plasma. Tokamaks use strong magnetic fields to confine high-temperature plasma within a toroidal vacuum vessel, creating conditions for future fusion of light atomic nuclei. The fundamental process of fusion reactions is the same mechanism by which the Sun releases energy, but engineering implementation still faces multiple challenges in plasma confinement, magnets, materials, and control systems.

2026-09-04

U.S. PACMAN AI Framework Achieves Millisecond-Level Control of Fusion Plasma

The PACMAN AI framework, developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Princeton University, has completed five experimental validations in real fusion experimental systems. The framework can complete data processing, state prediction, and control command output in approximately 20 milliseconds, addressing rapidly developing instabilities in fusion plasma. This is an artist's rendition of the PACMAN AI framework for fusion systems. (Illustration credit: Kyle Palmer / PPPL Communications Department) PACMAN stands for Prediction and Control via Machine Learning. Related design and preliminary experimental results have been published in...

2026-09-03

U.S. University Establishes Fusion Energy Seed Fund to Support Four Interdisciplinary Research Projects

The Institute for Fusion Studies at The University of Texas at Austin recently launched a fusion energy seed fund to support four interdisciplinary research projects. These projects will bring together teams from plasma physics, engineering, and computational science to address challenges in control, materials, particle confinement, and edge plasma simulation faced by fusion devices such as tokamaks. The fund is supported by the Institute for Fusion Studies (IFS), the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering ...

2026-09-01

China's Huanliu-4 High-Temperature Superconducting Magnet Development Roadmap Clarified

On August 25, during the 2026 Fusion Energy Conference and Fusion Energy Activity Week, the Yangtze River Delta Innovation Consortium, led by China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd., has clarified its development targets for high-temperature superconducting high-field tokamak magnets: to build the first 25T high-temperature superconducting high-field magnet development and testing line by 2028, and to complete prototype magnet development by 2030. The consortium is led by China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd., with members including Shanghai Superconductor, Eastern Superconductor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Group, Chaoci Xinneng, Energy Singularity, Hangyang Group, and Yixi Technology. The consortium will focus on building high-temperature superconducting high-field tokamak magnet development capabilities and engineering technology systems to provide key technical support for the subsequent construction of China's Huanliu-4.

2026-08-26

Beijing's First Second-Generation High-Temperature Superconducting Tape Mass Production Line Project Approved

Recently, the second-generation high-temperature superconducting tape R&D and production project invested in by Energy Singularity Superconducting Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Singularity, was officially approved for project initiation in the Daxing section of the Airport Economic Zone. Once completed and put into operation, the project will establish Beijing's first mass production line for second-generation high-temperature superconducting tape. According to reports, the project plans to build three production lines for rare-earth barium copper oxide (ReBCO) high-temperature superconducting tape based on the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) process route, achieving an annual output of 1,200 kilometers of high-temperature superconducting tape in the 12 mm width specification. High-temperature superconducting tape is a key raw material for manufacturing high-temperature superconducting magnets. In tokamak devices, high-temperature superconducting tape accounts for approximately...

2026-08-24

ITER vacuum vessel assembly in France progresses steadily, with five European sectors at different critical stages

The vacuum vessel assembly work for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in southern France is progressing steadily. As the core component of the ITER tokamak device, the vacuum vessel will contain the plasma confined by superconducting magnets, serving as the critical space where fusion reactions occur. This stainless steel ring-shaped structure weighs approximately 5,200 tonnes in total, measures 19.4 meters in diameter, and consists of nine sectors, five of which are manufactured by Europe. The European Fusion for Energy organization (F4E), together with the AMW consortium comprising Ansaldo Nucleare, Westinghouse Electric Italy, and Walter Tosto Company, is responsible for the related manufacturing work.

2026-08-21

Russia Plans to Build New Tokamak Device Using Reactor Technologies

Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, recently stated at a nuclear energy development conference that Rosatom is collaborating with the Kurchatov National Research Centre to build a new tokamak device using reactor technologies. Likhachev said that fusion energy technology is one of the key directions for Russia's nuclear energy development. Currently, the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China are all advancing related projects, and technological competition in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion continues to intensify. Russia hopes to use this project to maintain its technological leadership in this knowledge-intensive nuclear energy sector.

2026-08-21

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to Validate Spherical Tokamak Fusion Path with NSTX-U

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is advancing research on the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U), planning to use this largest spherical tokamak in the United States to assess the potential of compact tokamak configurations for future fusion power plants. The device is designed to become one of the most powerful spherical tokamaks in the world and will be used to study key issues such as high-temperature plasma confinement, heat transport, material performance, and real-time control. The image above shows the vacuum vessel and center column of the NSTX-U at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). This device will help scientists determine the optimal shape for future fusion power plants...

2026-08-20

The Energy Research Institute of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center Achieves a Series of New Progress in Safety Assessment of Activated Corrosion Products under Magnetic Field Environments in Fusion Reactors

Recently, the Radiation Protection and Safety Research Center of the Energy Research Institute of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center has made a series of significant progress in the field of safety assessment of activated corrosion products under magnetic field environments in fusion reactors. The research team conducted systematic studies on the corrosion behavior of China's low-activation ferritic/martensitic steel CLF-1 in magnetic field environments, from three dimensions: water corrosion characteristics, migration patterns of corrosion products, and the influence of surface roughness. The relevant results have been published as three papers in the journal *Nuclear Materials and Energy*, which is ranked in Zone 1 of the emerging journal classification table. This series of research outcomes provides key scientific evidence for the radiological safety assessment of cooling water systems in fusion reactors...

2026-08-15

ITER Tokamak Advances Assembly in France, Fusion Experiment Targets 150 Million Degree Celsius Plasma

The ITER tokamak being assembled in southern France is one of the most closely watched large-scale experimental devices in global nuclear fusion research. The machine weighs approximately 23,000 tonnes in total and adopts a donut-shaped toroidal structure, using strong magnetic fields to confine high-temperature plasma, with the goal of replicating on Earth the conditions for fusion reactions that occur inside stars. Its plasma volume is approximately 830 cubic meters, far exceeding previous tokamak devices, and it is therefore expected to validate the key physics and engineering technologies required for future commercial fusion reactors. ITER adopts the toroidal tokamak structure because charged particles can move along toroidal paths under strong magnetic fields, thereby minimizing direct contact with the device's inner walls...

2026-08-14

Russian Scientists Propose Fast Calculation Method to Simulate Plasma Ion Parameters in Seconds

Researchers from the HSE University and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have developed an analytical method for calculating the behavior of heavy ions in helium under strong electric fields, which can accelerate the computation of ion mobility and ion–molecule reaction rates by thousands of times. The findings have been published in Physica Scripta. Plasma, composed of charged particles such as electrons, negative ions, and positive ions, is typically quasi-neutral and highly conductive. It exists not only in fluorescent lamps and welding arcs but is also used in controlled nuclear fusion devices such as tokamaks. Atmospheric plasma jets can also be applied to wound disinfection, work surface cleaning...

2026-08-11

Two IPP studies reveal edge turbulence mechanisms in fusion plasmas from first principles

On August 10, 2026, two research teams at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) independently published findings that, for the first time, explain key phenomena in the extremely thin edge layer of fusion plasmas starting from fundamental physics equations. Both papers were published in Physical Review Letters, with one highlighted as an editor's suggestion. For stable operation of a fusion power plant, two requirements must be met simultaneously: on the one hand, the plasma at temperatures of around 100 million degrees Celsius must be effectively confined to achieve fusion ignition conditions; on the other hand, the generated heat must be distributed over a sufficiently large area to prevent damage to the device walls from excessive local heat loads. Whether this conflict can be resolved depends largely on a region only a few centimeters thick at the plasma edge.

2026-08-10

StarRing Fusion Completes RMB 880 Million Series A++ Financing to Advance Fusion Device and Key Technology Engineering

StarRing Fusion recently announced the completion of a new Series A++ financing round, raising RMB 880 million. This round was jointly invested by Shenzhen Capital Group, Shendan Venture Capital, ABC Capital, BOCOM Investment, GGV Capital, Yongxin Ark, Keke Capital, Advantage Capital, and other institutions, with existing shareholder Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Group's intellectual property fund and other institutions continuing to follow on. The company stated that the proceeds from this round, together with the previous Series A and A+ financing, will be used for the construction of the Shanghai Jiading experimental base, the construction and operation of the NTST negative-triangularity spherical tokamak, the design and construction of the CTRFR-1 "StarRing One," and the continued engineering advancement of key technologies including fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting magnets and AI-based plasma control...

2026-08-08