China Unveils World’s Largest Fusion Magnet for Artificial Sun Reactor
China has completed and successfully tested the world’s largest superconducting magnet, marking a major milestone in its pursuit of commercial nuclear fusion. The 582-tonne toroidal-field coil will help confine superheated plasma inside the country’s next-generation fusion reactor, bringing its goal of generating electricity from fusion by around 2030 closer to reality.
Record-breaking magnet powers next-generation fusion reactor
The D-shaped superconducting magnet measures 21 meters long and 12 meters wide. It successfully passed full-load testing on June 27 at a research facility in Hefei. Moreover, the magnet is designed for the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST), China’s next-generation experimental fusion reactor.
Eventually, engineers will install 16 of these magnets around the reactor’s doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber. Each magnet will carry 100,000 amperes of current while producing a 6.5-tesla magnetic field at the center. Consequently, the system will create a powerful magnetic cage that keeps plasma, heated beyond 100 million degrees Celsius, away from the reactor walls.
The magnet is approximately 1.3 times larger than its counterpart developed for the ITER fusion project in France. In addition, it stores nearly three times more magnetic energy and is designed to operate for up to 60 years.
Meanwhile, engineers also successfully tested a high-temperature superconducting central solenoid, often called the “heart” of a tokamak. Although it was originally rated for 46,500 amperes, the system reached 60,000 amperes during testing.
Domestic innovation strengthens fusion technology
China developed and manufactured every critical component of the superconducting magnet domestically. As a result, the six-year development program produced dozens of patents while establishing new industry standards for large-scale superconducting magnet technology.
Furthermore, the achievement demonstrates the country’s growing capability to build advanced fusion infrastructure without relying on foreign technology.
BEST reactor targets fusion electricity by 2030
Earlier this year, China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), often called the country’s “artificial sun,” set a world record by sustaining plasma at 100 million degrees Celsius for 1,066 seconds. However, the newly completed magnet will support the BEST reactor, which aims to move beyond research toward sustained burning plasma and practical electricity generation.
Construction of the BEST reactor is expected to finish by 2027. After that, China aims to demonstrate fusion-generated electricity around 2030. Although commercial fusion remains one of the world’s toughest engineering challenges, this milestone represents another significant step in the global race to develop clean and virtually limitless energy.
