JT-60SA
JT-60SA is a tokamak fusion device run by QST and EUROfusion in Japan. It is operating. Like every fusion device built so far, it has produced no net electricity.
First plasma October 2023; inaugurated December 2023. Integrated commissioning of the upgraded machine began February 2026, ahead of plasma heating experiments.
The largest operating superconducting tokamak in the world, a joint Japanese and European project. It runs on deuterium only, no tritium, and exists largely to develop the plasma control regimes ITER will need.
| Organisation | QST and EUROfusion |
|---|---|
| Approach | tokamak |
| Confinement | magnetic |
| Country | Japan |
| Status | Operating |
| First plasma | 2023-10 |
| 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.
JT-60SA 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 2023-10, 3 years ago: the 13th earliest of 15 projects on record with a first-plasma date.
| Measure | JT-60SA | Median of all projects | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| First plasma | 2023 | 2015 | 13 of 15 (earliest first) |
Worked out from the entries on this site only, so a figure compares JT-60SA 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