The spherical tokamak reactor from the UK company achieves a new milestone, coming closer to the goal of efficient fusion energy harvesting.
On March 10, Tokamak Energy, a UK-based fusion energy company, announced that it had set a world record for fusion reactions by reaching a plasma temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius. The company considers this temperature threshold essential for commercial fusion energy.
Spherical tokamak reactor ST40. (Photo: Tokamak Energy)
The spherical tokamak named ST40 from Tokamak Energy is designed for fusion experimentation—the process that powers the Sun and other stars. Fusion occurs when two atoms collide to form a heavier nucleus, releasing enormous amounts of energy. For many years, experts have been attempting to harness this process to provide a sustainable and abundant energy source for the world.
This new achievement marks a significant advancement toward this goal, according to Tokamak Energy. The company also stated that it has achieved the highest temperature ever recorded with a spherical tokamak—an essential reactor type for fusion. Several laboratories worldwide have also recorded temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius in traditional tokamaks, including Korea’s KSTAR and China’s EAST, also known as the “artificial sun.”
However, Tokamak Energy achieved this milestone with a much more compact fusion device. The company emphasized that it reached such an important benchmark in just five years with a cost of less than £50 million.
“This achievement helps demonstrate that spherical tokamaks are the optimal pathway to provide clean, safe, low-cost, scalable, and globally deployable commercial fusion energy,” Tokamak Energy explained.
Tokamak Energy conducted the new plasma measurements using over 25 advanced diagnostic tools integrated within the ST40 spherical tokamak. The results have also been verified by an independent advisory panel of international experts.
Tokamak Energy is upgrading ST40 to test new fusion technologies. The new device, named ST-HTS, will be the world’s first spherical tokamak designed to demonstrate the full potential of high-temperature superconductors (HTS), expected to begin trial runs in the coming years. It will provide insights to help experts design the world’s first pilot fusion plant, projected to operate in the early 2030s.
