China’s Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak in Hefei, China was officially commissioned on October 1. Its main facility simultaneously entered the key stage of assembling the “four nested rings.” The “four nested rings” consist of the vacuum chamber; the heat shield; the toroidal field magnet; and internal precision components which are assembled sequentially from inner to outer components.

BEST is to be completed by the end of 2027, with a demonstration deuterium-tritium fusion power generation planned for around 2030. The goal is to achieve a fusion gain of Q greater than or equal to 1, a criterion for fusion “breakeven,” and to maintain this for more than 1000 seconds. The success of BEST will validate technologies such as the tritium fuel cycle, high-power plasma heating, and remote maintenance in preparation for the future Fusion Engineering Demonstration Reactor (CFEDR) fusion power plant.