A new plasma duration record in Europe: on 12 February 2025, scientists from CEA-IRFM in southern France sustained a hydrogen plasma in the WEST tokamak for 1337 seconds (approximately 22 minutes) with an injected and extracted energy of 2.6 GJ. This was a 25% improvement on the previous record time achieved with EAST, in China, a few weeks previously.
The record is an excellent result promising for ITER and fusion energy research. Numerous experiments are scheduled on the WEST tokamak to develop fusion energy, supporting the future operation of ITER and in collaboration with many EUROfusion and international laboratories. The experiments planned 12 and 13 February aimed to achieve long-duration plasmas and attempt to exceed 1000 seconds, one of WEST's major objectives. The experimental campaign that ended in December 2024 had already provided excellent results, including a plasma duration of 824 seconds with 1.93 GJ of injected energy.
Memorable moment
DIFFER's PhD student Juan Javier Palacios Roman was at CEA during the record pulse. As part of DIFFER's research group Energy Systems and Control he's doing research with TU/e (Department of Mechanical Engineering) and CEA, focusing on extremum seeking control for the exhaust control in nuclear fusion reactors.
Juan Javier: "On the day of the world record, I sat in the WEST control room with the other engineers and physicists, preparing my own experiment at WEST. Before the record pulse, there already was a pulse that stopped after 500 seconds (which was also a pretty good achievement). After this ‘failed’ shot many people left the room.
When the pulse passed the 500 seconds and kept going on longer, there was great interest again. More and more people joined the control room, also from the rest of the building. Photographs were taken, and people were watching with excitement to see if everything was still going well. At the end of the pulse, everyone was elated and applause followed.
For me it was very cool to be there, I was really lucky to be there at that memorable moment. By 2024, progress had already been made in the long pulse operation at WEST. I think this shows the continuous progress that is being made in tokamaks, both in small and big steps.”
Read more
- WEST sets a new plasma duration record (article CEA-IRFM)
- World record fusion plasma in Europe (article EUROfusion)
Author: Rianne van Hoek
Go to the News page.