Nuclear fusion aims to control inherently unstable plasma, offering a highly efficient energy source with minimal fuel use and no long-lived radioact

Plasma was kept stable for 22 minutes at the French research reactor WEST. The team wants to achieve several hours in future.

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,

French scientists have reached a ‘crucial milestone’ in the long road towards nuclear fusion by managing to maintain raging-hot plasma for a record 22 minutes, officials have said.

On 12 February, the CEA’s WEST machine was able to maintain a plasma for more than 22 minutes. In doing so, it smashed the previous record for plasma duration achieved with a tokamak. This leap forward demonstrates how our knowledge of plasmas and technological control of them over longer periods is becoming more mature,

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,