In a groundbreaking milestone for clean energy, France’s fusion energy program has achieved a world record by sustaining plasma at 50 million degrees Celsius for an unprecedented 22 minutes. This record-setting performance marks a major step forward in the global quest to harness nuclear fusion — the same process that powers the sun — as a viable, virtually limitless energy source.
The experiment took place at the WEST (Tungsten Environment in Steady-state Tokamak) reactor, located at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) research center in Cadarache. Scientists were able to confine and maintain superheated plasma — a key element in generating fusion — for over 1,300 seconds without material degradation or system failure.
Fusion reactions require extremely high temperatures to force hydrogen nuclei to combine into helium, releasing massive amounts of energy. The 50 million °C temperature reached during the test is more than three times the heat at the core of the sun.
“This achievement is a historic breakthrough for fusion energy,” said Dr. Nathalie Besson, project leader at CEA. “We’ve demonstrated that steady-state plasma operation at extreme temperatures is not only possible, but sustainable — paving the way for the future of clean, safe, and near-infinite power.”
The success at WEST contributes directly to the ongoing development of ITER, the world’s largest nuclear fusion project, also under construction in France. ITER aims to produce 10 times the energy it consumes and begin operation by the early 2030s.
With fossil fuel concerns and climate change intensifying, fusion’s promise of zero-carbon, radiation-free energy offers new hope for global energy security. The French breakthrough is being hailed by the international scientific community as a major leap forward on the path to a fusion-powered world.
