HL-3
HL-3 is a tokamak fusion device run by Southwestern Institute of Physics, CNNC in China. It is operating. Like every fusion device built so far, it has produced no net electricity.
Reached 1 MA plasma current in 2022, 1 MA in H-mode in 2023, 1.5 MA H-mode in 2024, and 13.8 keV electron and 10 keV ion temperatures in 2025. Auxiliary heating is being upgraded to 41 MW, with preliminary deuterium-tritium operation expected from 2027.
China's second large tokamak, run by CNNC rather than the Academy of Sciences, and the one aimed at burning-plasma physics rather than long pulses. Ten keV ion temperature is roughly the threshold a deuterium-tritium plasma needs; getting there is a physics result, not a power plant.
| Organisation | Southwestern Institute of Physics, CNNC |
|---|---|
| Approach | tokamak |
| Confinement | magnetic |
| Country | China |
| Status | Operating |
| First plasma | 2020 |
| 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.
HL-3 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 2020, 6 years ago: the 11th earliest of 15 projects on record with a first-plasma date.
| Measure | HL-3 | Median of all projects | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| First plasma | 2020 | 2015 | 11 of 15 (earliest first) |
Worked out from the entries on this site only, so a figure compares HL-3 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
- International Atomic Energy Agency Fusion Energy Conference, HL-3 research overview · 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