On June 27, 2026, the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, Anhui province, completed the development and full parametric testing of two key superconducting magnets for a fusion reactor as part of the 'Artificial Sun' project. The institute itself announced this news.
Put simply: for nuclear fusion to work, you need to confine plasma at temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius so that it doesn't touch the walls of the chamber. No material can withstand such heat, so the plasma is 'levitated' in a vacuum using a powerful magnetic field. Superconducting magnets are precisely what's needed to create this field – the more powerful they are, the more stably and for longer the reaction can be sustained.
Toroidal Magnet: A Record-Holder in Volume and Energy
The first of the tested components is a Toroidal Field (TF) superconducting magnet. It has a D-shape, measures 21 meters in length, 12 meters in width, and 3.3 meters in height, and weighs 582 tons. The developers call it the world's largest superconducting magnet for a fusion reactor: its volume is 1.3 times larger and its stored energy is 3 times higher than that of a similar magnet for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France – the world's most famous and expensive fusion project.
The parameters of a single such magnet are impressive:
- Operating current – 98 kiloamperes;
- Stored energy – 120 gigajoules;
- Maximum field on the magnet itself – 14.5 tesla;
- Design lifespan for stable operation – 60 years under conditions of ultra-low temperatures, high currents, strong radiation, and mechanical loads.
In the future, 16 such magnets will be assembled into a ring – it will create a magnetic field with a strength of 6.5 tesla at the center of the plasma. It is this field that is meant to hold the superheated matter inside the vacuum chamber, preventing it from destroying the reactor walls.
The Solenoid That Ignites and Sustains the Plasma
In parallel with the toroidal magnet, full testing was completed on a high-temperature superconducting central solenoid. This component stably conducts a current of 60 kiloamperes, its stored energy is 6.03 megajoules, its maximum field ramp rate reaches 5.1 tesla per second, and the resistance of its joints is only 0.87 nano-ohms.
If the toroidal magnet confines the plasma in the shape of a ring, the central solenoid is responsible for another task: it induces and sustains the plasma current itself, and also regulates its shape. Without this element, there would simply be nothing to 'ignite' the reaction with.
Fully Chinese Technologies and Patents
The developers emphasize that all key technologies, materials – including superconducting tapes, special steel, and insulation – and production processes are entirely domestic. The development took six years, during which 47 patents were obtained and 14 standards were developed.
Both magnets will become part of the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT) and are intended for the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST). The assembly of BEST is planned to be completed by the end of 2027, with a demonstration of electricity generation from nuclear fusion expected around 2030.
Why All This Is Needed
Nuclear fusion is the same reaction that powers the Sun and stars: light atomic nuclei fuse into heavier ones, releasing enormous energy. Unlike nuclear fission power plants, which use the decay of heavy nuclei, a fusion reaction does not produce long-lived radioactive waste and is considered a source of practically inexhaustible clean energy.
The magnets tested in Hefei are not a ready-made power plant, but a key technical element on the path to one. The Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has demonstrated its ability to build superconducting components that surpass even the international ITER project in scale, entirely on its own technological base.
AI Opinion
From the perspective of macroeconomic comparisons, the fusion race appears not only as a 'race of magnets' but also a race of financing models. While the Chinese project is scaling up with state funding, the American company Commonwealth Fusion Systems already tested a compact high-temperature superconducting magnet reaching 20 tesla in 2021 and later raised $1.8 billion in private investment based on this result. The difference in approaches is fundamental: betting on scale and low-temperature superconductivity versus betting on compactness and ReBCO materials that reduce cooling costs. The historical experience of fusion programs, from the first tokamaks in the 1960s to budget freezes in the 1980s, suggests that the decisive factor has more often been not the power of the magnet, but the sustainability of funding over a timescale of decades. Which model – state-led or venture-backed – will bring fusion power to the electrical grid faster?
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