CEA tungsten tokamak; sustained plasma for a record 1,337 s (2025).
Records now fall on separate axes — gain 4.1 at NIF, 1,337 s at WEST, 150M°C at Helion — while the fairest physics yardstick, the triple product, still belongs to a 1996 experiment. A read of every fusion number this tracker holds, and what each one does and does not prove.
Records are falling fast — gain 4 at NIF, 1,000 s-plus plasmas in China and France — but engineering breakeven and a grid-connected plant are still distinct, harder steps. Our read on the gap. (Our opinion, not investment advice.)
Hot enough to fuse, long enough to be a power source: EAST's 160M°C and WEST's 1,337 s tackle the two halves of the same problem. Neither alone makes a reactor.
WEST (CEA) — WEST (CEA, France) held a hydrogen plasma for 1,337 s — about 22 minutes — at 50M°C with a tungsten wall and 2 MW of heating, surpassing EAST's 1,066 s by ~25% for the longest sustained fusion plasma on record.
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NIF / LLNL