The new land of the rising artificial sun
China is ramping up engineering and industrial development of its "artificial sun" fusion programme, planning a full upgrade of the facility by the end of 2026 and official burning experiments in 2027. When a star is lit on Earth, and the fusion that powers the Sun becomes man‑made, humanity comes closer than ever to the dream of nearly limitless clean energy. China, which has made this goal a priority in its 15th Five‑Year Plan, is moving from laboratory experiments to engineering reality. The HL‑3 facility, nicknamed the "artificial sun", has already reached temperatures of 160 million degrees and has broken through a key barrier: the country can now independently produce the "first wall" — the reactor's critical component that was previously a major technological bottleneck. Official burning experiments are set to begin in 2027, and if successful, China could lay the foundation for industrial fusion within the next decade. This is not just a technology race — it is an opportunity to permanently reshape the planet's energy landscape.
Fusion, the same energy that powers the stars, promises virtually limitless clean energy. China has identified it as a key priority project under its 15th Five‑Year Plan for 2026‑2030, marking a major shift from purely laboratory research to engineering and industrial development. Part of the project is the Huanliu‑3, or HL‑3, fusion reactor, nicknamed the "artificial sun". It is a large‑scale scientific facility for controlled nuclear fusion. A key part of the reactor is the "first wall", located on the innermost side of the vacuum vessel. The "first wall" acts as protective armour, withstanding ultra‑high‑temperature plasma and intense particle bombardment. Made of tungsten, copper and stainless steel, it has long been a major bottleneck in fusion engineering. Now China can produce it domestically. "All the main materials, as well as the entire R&D and production process, have been developed independently by our team. This fully self‑reliant technology system puts our 'first wall' technology among the world leaders," said Sun Qian, an engineer at the Southwestern Institute of Physics. China's HL‑3 has achieved significant milestones, simultaneously reaching ion temperatures of 120 million degrees and electron temperatures of 160 million degrees, and a triple product of fusion reactions reaching 10 to the power of 20. "We will complete the full upgrade of the HL‑3 facility by the end of 2026 and launch official burning experiments in 2027. These experiments will lay a vital foundation for China to build complete industrial fusion systems," said Bai Xingyu, Deputy Director of the Fusion Technology Research Institute at the Southwestern Institute of Physics.
The industrialisation of fusion follows a three‑stage path: stable burning and energy output, reliable long‑term operation, and cost reduction for commercial use. "Our goal is to build an experimental pilot fusion reactor by 2035, and a demonstration reactor by around 2045, steadily moving towards commercial reactors," Bai added.
China's fusion programme is part of global efforts to build a commercial fusion reactor. The HL‑3 facility, built at the Southwestern Institute of Physics in Chengdu, is one of the country's key projects. Unlike the international ITER project being built in France, which is also a tokamak‑based reactor, China's programme stands out for its high degree of localisation and fast progress. The success with the "first wall" and record‑breaking plasma temperatures allow China to set standards in several areas rather than just catch up. The plans to build a pilot reactor by 2035 and a demonstration reactor by 2045 are ambitious, but given the pace of HL‑3 upgrades, they are achievable. If the burning experiments in 2027 prove effective, it could be a turning point not only for China but for global energy.
As CCTV+ reports, fusion is gradually moving from science fiction to engineering reality, and China is steadily advancing towards becoming the first country to offer the world an industrial fusion reactor capable of providing clean energy for millennia.
