China fires up world’s biggest superconducting magnet for nuclear fusion project

ByAtlasnews

Jun 28, 2026 #Chinese Academy of Sciences, #Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology, #CRAFT, #CRAFT toroidal field coil, #East, #France, #HT-, #International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, #Japan, #Qin Jinggang, #Song Yuntao, #South China Morning Post (SCMP), #Soviet Union, #T-, #Wu Yu, #Xinhua

AdvertisementScience China Science

China fires up world’s biggest superconducting magnet for nuclear fusion project

The device, part of the CRAFT artificial sun reactor, sets new international benchmark in push for clean energy

2-MIN READ2-MIN Listen

The team behind the superconducting magnet project celebrate the success of their tests on Saturday, capping years of work. Photo: Xinhua

Zhang Tongin BeijingPublished: 6:00pm, 28 Jun 2026The world’s biggest superconducting magnet for a nuclear fusion reactor has passed final tests as part of China’s CRAFT “artificial sun” project, eclipsing international performance benchmarks.

The assembly comprises two coils: a toroidal-field magnet that acts as a magnetic cage, and a central solenoid that serves as the igniter.

The results, achieved by researchers with the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, clear a major engineering hurdle on the path to confining a plasma hotter than the sun’s core, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The project – the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology – aims to create a miniature sun at over 100 million degrees Celsius (over 180 million Fahrenheit) and trap it inside a doughnut-shaped metal cage to generate electricity.

The magnetic cage, known as the CRAFT toroidal field coil, is a core component of the reactor.

It uses a strong magnetic field to prevent the container of the miniature sun from melting as the plasma inside reaches hundreds of millions of degrees.

AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed00:0000:001.00x