ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is a multinational fusion project in France aiming to prove that nuclear fusion can be a viable large-scale energy source. As the world’s largest fusion experiment, ITER is designed to confine and sustain superheated plasma, a critical step toward practical fusion power.

WEST, a tokamak run from the CEA Cadarache site in southern France and one of the EUROfusion consortium medium size Tokamak facilities, was able to maintain a plasma for on 12 February. This was a 25% improvement on the previous record time achieved with EAST,

France’s WEST Tokamak set a fusion record, sustaining plasma for 22 minutes, a 25% improvement, advancing long-term fusion stability.

Nice number, but also not much more than a nice advance France’s Commissariat à L'énergie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives on Tuesday claimed it’s topped China’s recently-established for record maintaining fusion plasma in a tokamak,

France has taken a major leap forward in the race for nuclear fusion energy, achieving a new world record for plasma duration. On February 12, 2025, scientists at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) successfully sustained a plasma reaction for 1,