EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak)

EAST is China's fully superconducting research tokamak operated by ASIPP in Hefei since 2006. In January 2025 it sustained H-mode plasma for 1,066 seconds, and in January 2026 its team reported operating beyond the empirical plasma density limit.

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Current state

Notes

WEST (France) surpassed EAST's duration record with 1,337 s in February 2025 (at lower performance than H-mode).

Timeline

• 2006 — EAST achieved first plasma in Hefei. (source)
• 2025-01-20 — EAST sustained a high-confinement (H-mode) plasma for 1,066 seconds, beating its 403-second record from 2023. (source)
• 2026-01 — The EAST team reported in Science Advances experimental access to a 'density-free' regime beyond the empirical density limit. (source)

The timeline is append-only: corrections are added as new entries. Stated targets appear in the current-state table, never as milestones.

Related projects

• ARC (Commonwealth Fusion Systems) Design · United States
• BEST (Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak) Under construction · China
• CFEDR / China Fusion Energy Co. demo reactor (successor to CFETR) Design · China
• CTRFR-1 / Startorus No.1 (Startorus Fusion) Design · China
• EU DEMO (EUROfusion Demonstration Power Plant) Concept · European Union
• FAST (Fusion by Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) Design · Japan
• HH170 (Energy Singularity) Design · China
• HH70 (Energy Singularity) Operating · China

See all 51 projects in the Fusion Energy Companies & Projects Tracker →

Sources

1. Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak — Wikipedia, checked 2026-10-11
2. China's EAST smashes fusion confinement record — Physics World, checked 2026-10-11
3. EAST breaks through plasma density limit — Chinese Academy of Sciences (primary), checked 2026-10-11