Archive · 18 Aug 2026

China completes giant 582-tonne magnet for 'artificial sun' fusion

China completes giant 582-tonne magnet for 'artificial sun' fusion

The Sun makes energy by smashing tiny particles together, and scientists want to copy that on Earth.

This is called nuclear fusion.

China has built a huge magnet that weighs 582 tonnes for a machine called a tokamak, sometimes known as an 'artificial sun.'

The magnet's job is to hold super-hot gas so it never touches the walls of the machine.

The gas inside gets hotter than 100 million degrees Celsius.

China wants to use this technology to make electricity from fusion by around 2030.

They are building a test machine called BEST in the city of Hefei, which should be finished by the end of 2027.

Fusion could give us lots of clean energy using fuels that are easy to find.

But it is still very hard, and scientists must figure out how to make it work for a long time without costing too much.

Sources