China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), often called the nation’s “artificial sun,” has shattered previous fusion records by sustaining plasma for 1,066 seconds on January 20, 2025, far surpassing its 403-second achievement from 2023.
Nuclear fusion, the same process powering our sun fuses light atomic nuclei into heavier ones, releasing vast amounts of energy. Unlike nuclear fission, fusion produces minimal radioactive waste and offers far greater safety. In the EAST facility in Hefei, powerful magnetic fields confine superheated plasma inside a doughnut-shaped chamber, aiming to replicate the extreme conditions found in stars.
The latest success was achieved with high-confinement plasma temperatures exceeding 180 million °F, sustained for more than 17 minutes. This steady-state operation demonstrates not only the reactor’s enhanced stability but also significant progress in controlling plasma behavior. The feat reflects advances in reactor component design, crucial for scaling toward future fusion power plants.
Fusion’s promise is immense: nearly inexhaustible energy, no greenhouse gas emissions, and minimal long-lived radioactive waste. But as EAST’s breakthrough shows, the road ahead still involves surmounting technical barriers particularly the development of materials that can survive intense heat and radiation, and achieving a net energy gain, where output exceeds the energy needed to sustain the reaction.
China’s achievement positions it as a major player in the global fusion race, alongside projects like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France. Insights from EAST’s experiments will inform these next-generation reactors, potentially accelerating the timeline toward commercial fusion energy.