Current geopolitics might suggest that Western scientists have been in general alignment with the United States in the global race for fusion energy – but some of Europe’s top nuclear physicists are placing their bets on China.
Scepticism over US fusion goals and chronic delays at the 33-nation International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in France have created an opening for a new leader in the field, and China appears poised to fill it.
Targeted for completion in 2027, the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST) in Hefei, central China, is rapidly attracting international talent frustrated by slow progress elsewhere.
On Monday, the interest in China was formalised when researchers from several European nations arrived in the city to sign the Hefei Fusion Declaration.
The agreement, reported by Chinese state news agency Xinhua, signalled a deepened commitment to solve the puzzle of sustainable nuclear fusion, with international teams now pledging to integrate their efforts with China’s accelerating timeline.
Officially launched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences the same day, the international “Burning Plasma” collaboration is aimed at accelerating the timeline of BEST to unlock the “holy grail” of clean energy: sustainable nuclear fusion.
This means it would need to beat SPARC, an experimental tokamak fusion facility in the United States under development by US firm Commonwealth Fusion Systems in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Construction of the facility began in late 2021 with the aim of achieving net power by 2027, a similar timeline.
According to Xinhua, the BEST research plan was unveiled to the global fusion community for the first time. The plan focuses on burning plasma physics, achieving net energy gain and showing fusion power generation.
At the event, scientists from more than a dozen countries – including France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Austria and Belgium – signed the declaration encouraging international collaboration on fusion research in China.
The China-led research programme would help to “pool the wisdom and strength of scientists around the world to overcome the challenges of fusion burning at the frontiers of physics”, said the project’s chief engineer, Song Yuntao, from the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei.
While assembly of the BEST facility began back in May, the project received fresh attention on October 25 when foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning posted about it on social media. Describing the facility as an “artificial sun”, she said it was on track for completion in 2027 and could become the “first in history” to generate electricity via nuclear fusion.
Under the latest research plan, once the facility is completed, deuterium-tritium burning plasma experiments would be conducted to verify its capability for long-pulse, steady-state operation.
The goal is to generate between 20 and 200 megawatts of fusion power to achieve net energy production – when energy output exceeds energy input.
“We are on the verge of entering a new phase of burning plasma,” Song said, adding that this represented a pivotal moment for fusion engineering research, one where nuclear fusion was sustained by the heat generated from the reaction itself – laying the foundation for continuous power generation.
But it was still “uncharted territory”, he said, with many engineering and physics expected along the way. For instance, alpha particles, which are by-products of common fusion reactions, are essential for maintaining ultra-high temperatures, yet not enough is known about their transport mechanisms.
ITER – the world’s most powerful fusion experiment and largest international collaboration – is under construction in southern France.
The goal for ITER is to operate at 500MW for at least 400 seconds continuously using 50MW of plasma heating power input. While more ambitious than the plan for BEST, its timeline has fallen far behind that of its smaller Chinese counterpart.
ITER was conceived in the 1980s and construction began in 2010, but it has faced multiple delays.
In July last year, the director general of ITER, Pietro Barabaschi, announced that energy-producing fusion reactions would not be achieved until 2039 and would only occur in short bursts, nine years later than previously scheduled.
That was in stark contrast to the progress on BEST.
“In less than two years, we completed the civil construction, with components from various systems already reaching operational readiness – this is what we call ‘China speed’,” said Yan Jianwen, chairman of Neo Fusion, the state-backed company leading the project.
As part of the international scientific programme, the Institute of Plasma Physics will open major nuclear fusion research facilities to international scientists who are not part of BEST. The institute will also reportedly establish an open research fund and support frequent expert exchanges. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
