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Against the backdrop of accelerating changes in the global energy system and deepening the green and low-carbon transformation, nuclear fusion is regarded as the "ultimate solution" for solving future energy problems, thanks to its abundant fuel sources, clean and environmentally friendly advantages. Its related technology research and development, as well as industrial layout, continue to accelerate.

 

With continuous breakthroughs in key technologies, experts point out that during the 15th Five Year Plan period, the industrialization of nuclear fusion should lead future development, accelerate the formation of a billion dollar fusion cutting-edge manufacturing industry cluster, and inject strong impetus into the energy revolution.

 

Fusion research moves towards system capability enhancement

 

At present, China's nuclear fusion field continues to make new progress in key areas such as combustion experiments, steady-state operation, and engineering verification, and the overall research and development level is moving from "single point breakthroughs" to "system capability enhancement".

 

In terms of high parameter operation, China's major scientific facilities continuously refresh key indicators. At the 2026 Spring Nuclear Energy Sustainable Development Forum held on April 17, Liu Ye, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Southwest Institute of Physics of the Nuclear Industry, introduced that the new generation of artificial sun "China Circulation III" achieved a "double billion degree" breakthrough of 117 million degrees Celsius in atomic nucleus temperature and 160 million degrees Celsius in electron temperature for the first time in China in March last year; In June of the same year, a plasma current of 1 million amperes and an ion temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius were achieved, and stable operation was achieved in high confinement mode. The comprehensive parameter fusion triple product reached the order of 10-20, setting a new record for the operation of fusion devices in China.

 

At the same time, the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences continues to tackle key problems in the field of steady state operation, and further complements the key weaknesses in the engineering development of fusion reactors. Last year, its developed "Dongfang Super Ring" successfully achieved high confinement mode steady-state operation at 100 million degrees Celsius for 1066 seconds, simulating for the first time the long pulse conditions required for future fusion reactor operation on an experimental device, verifying the feasibility of steady-state high confinement operation of fusion reactors.

 

While national scientific facilities continue to make breakthroughs, the commercialization track of fusion is also accelerating, and related companies are showing impressive performance. Recently, the world's first fully high-temperature superconducting tokamak device "Honghuang 70" independently developed by Energy Singularity Energy Technology Co., Ltd. successfully achieved 1337 second steady-state long pulse plasma operation in Shanghai Lingang, further verifying the engineering feasibility and operational stability of the fully high-temperature superconducting technology route in fusion devices.

 

Experts believe that China's fusion energy is accelerating from the scientific experimental stage to the engineering verification stage, from national major scientific research platforms to enterprise engineering exploration.

 

The industrial driving effect is gradually released

 

Against the backdrop of China's continuous promotion of its "dual carbon" goals and the growing demand for electricity, the strategic position of nuclear fusion in the future energy system is becoming increasingly prominent.

 

Zhang Li, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of China Electric Power Engineering Consulting Group Co., Ltd., pointed out that "nuclear fusion energy" has been included in the key cultivation direction of China's "15th Five Year Plan" stage, providing top-level design support for industrial development.

 

The reporter learned that in November 2023, China officially established its first fusion industry alliance with the goal of industrializing fusion and the vision of commercializing fusion clean energy. As of the end of last year, the alliance had gathered over 260 companies, and the industrial chain ecosystem had begun to take shape.

 

Li Jiangang, an academician of the CAE Member and a researcher of the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a complete fusion industry chain and industrial alliance, and promote the transformation and application of fusion related technologies through the "laying eggs along the way" model.

 

He further pointed out that nuclear fusion technology has significant technological spillover effects, involving multiple high-end manufacturing fields such as superconducting materials, strong magnet systems, and nuclear magnetic resonance equipment. In the process of fusion research and development, key intermediate technologies such as high-temperature superconductivity and plasma diagnostics often take the lead in achieving engineering and industrial applications, thus forming a good technological driving effect.

 

Taking superconducting materials as an example, Li Jiangang stated that before participating in the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) program, China's large-scale superconducting devices relied on imported core wires for a long time, which not only resulted in high costs but also faced technological blockades, and critical materials were severely controlled by others.

 

Through more than ten years of continuous research and development in the ITER project, the scientific research and industry team represented by Academician Zhang Pingxiang has achieved key breakthroughs, promoted the independent development of superconducting materials, and gradually grown Western Superconducting Materials Technology Co., Ltd. into one of the superconducting material enterprises with a relatively complete global product system, leading production scale, and outstanding cost competitiveness. At present, four key enterprises related to fusion have achieved listing, and the industrial driving effect continues to be released.

 

In the medical field, fusion derived technologies are also accelerating their implementation. Li Jiangang introduced that the superconducting technology derived from fusion has entered clinical applications - the proton therapy system based on superconducting magnets is providing a new precise treatment solution for cancer patients. This technology has only taken about five years from laboratory to clinical application.

 

It will take some time to achieve fusion power generation, but before that, many fusion 'laying eggs along the way' related technologies can be applied in the market first, "said Li Jiangang.

 

Building a cutting-edge manufacturing industry cluster worth billions of yuan

 

The "China Nuclear Energy Development Report (2026)" released by the China Nuclear Energy Industry Association on April 17 proposes that during the "15th Five Year Plan" period, China will comprehensively promote the three-step strategy of "hot reactor fast reactor fusion reactor", continuously improve the efficiency of the innovation system, promote key technology research and development, strengthen basic research support, and accelerate the realization of high-level nuclear technology self-reliance and self-improvement.

 

Experts believe that China's nuclear fusion development is entering a critical leap towards "engineering verification", and accelerating the construction of engineering experimental reactors has become a core task. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the safety supervision system and standard framework.

 

Liu Ye, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Southwest Institute of Physics in the Nuclear Industry, believes that on the basis of fully digesting ITER technology and experience, we should firmly grasp the development opportunities of the two cutting-edge technologies of "high-temperature superconductivity" and "artificial intelligence". At the same time, relying on the advantages of China's nuclear industry full industry chain system and the accumulation of fusion research and development technology, we should accelerate the construction of fusion engineering experimental reactors, take the lead in demonstrating and verifying the entire process of fusion energy extraction and thermoelectric conversion, as well as the entire process of fuel proliferation and circulation, and solve the key problems of the feasibility of fusion energy engineering.

 

The construction of engineering experimental reactors is not only a crucial step towards the application of fusion in power generation, but also will drive the coordinated development of upstream and downstream industrial chains. Regarding this, Li Jiangang pointed out that the industrialization of fusion reactors should lead the future development of industries, form a billion dollar industrial cluster for cutting-edge fusion manufacturing, and promote the energy revolution.

 

While the industry is accelerating, safety issues cannot be ignored. Liu Lu, Deputy Director of the National Nuclear Safety Administration, pointed out that during the 15th Five Year Plan period, there will be a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research and development towards engineering applications. The focus should be on strengthening safety logic, building a key technology research and verification system, and paying more attention to the quality of risk analysis; At the same time, we need to promote the high-quality development of the nuclear fusion industry in the future, accelerate the release of a number of industry oriented technical documents or standards, and lay a solid foundation for establishing a regulatory system that is in line with the characteristics of fusion and promotes fusion applications.

 

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