EAST
EAST is a tokamak fusion device run by Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in China. It is operating. Like every fusion device built so far, it has produced no net electricity.
Sustained a steady-state plasma for a record 1,066 seconds in January 2025.
China's "artificial sun", and the world leader in long-pulse operation. Duration is the metric that matters for a power plant: a machine that holds a plasma for seconds is a physics experiment, one that holds it for hours could run a generator.
| Organisation | Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences |
|---|---|
| Approach | tokamak |
| Confinement | magnetic |
| Country | China |
| Status | Operating |
| First plasma | 2006 |
| Target date | none stated |
|---|---|
| Power target | none stated |
| Energy gain target | none stated |
| Net electricity | No. no fusion device has produced any |
Other tokamak projects
Fusion needs tritium, and the world's civilian stock comes mostly from CANDU fission reactors. See the fusion overview.
EAST in context
14 of the 24 fusion projects on record use the tokamak approach: 7 operating, 3 under construction, 3 planned and 1 closed.
Its first plasma is dated 2006, 20 years ago: the 4th earliest of 15 projects on record with a first-plasma date.
| Measure | EAST | Median of all projects | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| First plasma | 2006 | 2015 | 4 of 15 (earliest first) |
Worked out from the entries on this site only, so a figure compares EAST with what is recorded here, not with everything that exists. An entry with no value for a measure is left out of that measure's ranking and median.
Sources
- World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Fusion Power · retrieved 2026-09-07
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data