Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Image of the week | First cryopump expected in the coming months

    The cryopumps that will create and maintain extremely demanding vacuum conditions inside the ITER machine are marvels of technology that have been in developmen [...]

    Read more

  • ITER Baseline | STAC committee reviews new plans for construction and operation

    Last week, the ITER Council Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) met at ITER Headquarters to review the new plans for construction and operation pro [...]

    Read more

  • IAEA General Conference | Fusion energy strongly advocated

    Last week the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held its annual General Conference, with delegates representing more than 130 countries and many interna [...]

    Read more

  • On site | 28 who "truly shined"

    The new ITER Star Awards recognize exemplary performance and commitment. Every year, during the annual assessment campaign, ITER staff may be recognized for exe [...]

    Read more

  • MT-28 Conference | Superconducting magnets as a catalyst

    Many passers-by paused for a moment and picked up their cell phones to capture the scene. It was indeed rare to see dancers on the square outside of the Pavillo [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

Fusion world

EAST achieves 403-second H-mode plasma

Experiments performed this month on the EAST superconducting tokamak in Hefei, China, have demonstrated record sustainment of high temperature plasmas in the so-called H-mode confinement regime, surpassing 400 seconds. 


At 9 p.m. on 12 April 2023, EAST set a new record by operating for 403 seconds in steady-state, high-performance mode (H-mode). Image courtesy of the EAST team. (Click to view larger version...)
At 9 p.m. on 12 April 2023, EAST set a new record by operating for 403 seconds in steady-state, high-performance mode (H-mode). Image courtesy of the EAST team.
H‐mode describes the sudden improvement of plasma confinement in the magnetic field of tokamaks by approximately a factor of two, and is the high confinement regime that all modern tokamaks, including ITER, rely on.

Scientists at EAST had broken the 100-second barrier for steady-state H-mode plasmas in 2017. Nearly 50,000 plasma shots later, on 12 April 2023, the team achieved a 403-second stationary H-mode plasma, and repeated the performance in a second shot the next day. 

Research at EAST on physics and technology issues under steady-state operational conditions is directly relevant to ITER. Song Yuntao, director of ASIPP, celebrated the milestone. "The EAST team has worked together closely with their collaborators at home and abroad over the past decades," in order to solve frontier physics and technical issues with long-pulse operation, he said. This includes "plasma configuration control, high efficiency radio frequency heating and current drive, plasma-wall interactions, and real-time diagnostics for key plasma parameters."

The latest achievement at EAST is an important milestone in the exploration of plasmas that will be required for ITER and for future fusion reactors. 

See more about the technical characteristics of the record shot in English or Chinese.



return to the latest published articles