OMNI Features｜China Launches Artificial Sun "BEST" Project to Advance Global Fusion Research

China has launched a major new step in fusion energy research with the announcement of its Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST) program. Revealed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Hefei, Anhui province. The project is scheduled for completion by 2027.

Dubbed an "artificial sun," the tokamak aims to achieve a self-sustaining burning plasma using deuterium and tritium (2 isotopes of hydrogen). If successful, BEST could demonstrate the possibility of producing more energy than it consumes, a milestone that has eluded scientists for decades. Fusion energy, long seen as a limitless and clean power source, remains technically challenging and energy-intensive to achieve.

At the launch event, CAS invited researchers from over 10 countries, including France, the UK, and Germany, to sign the Hefei Fusion Declaration, promoting open scientific collaboration in fusion research. The program will provide international scientists with access to major Chinese research platforms and funding for cooperative experiments.

BEST represents a key advancement in fusion research, complementing the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), which has achieved world records in sustaining high-temperature plasma. Together, these efforts highlight China's growing investment in cutting-edge science, spanning fusion, quantum technology, and space exploration.

Note:
[1] BEST: Formally known as the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak, is the successor project to the Chinese Academy of Sciences' EAST program. It is regarded as a controllable nuclear-fusion device often referred to as a "Artificial Sun."
Data source: https://big5.news.cn/gate/big5/www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/20251125/8eca14d3e5024388a604e1e6482d980a/c.html

[2] EAST: Formally known as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, is a magnetic-confinement nuclear-fusion experimental device independently designed and developed by the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with full proprietary intellectual property rights. It is the world's first tokamak fusion facility to achieve steady-state, high-confinement-mode operation lasting on the order of one hundred seconds.
Data source: http://kpzg.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2021/0614/c404214-32129932.html

Reference:Sixth Tone