HEFEI, April 11 — In a monumental milestone for global fusion energy research, China has completed and shipped the final set of the Correction Coil In-Cryostat Feeder components to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) site in southern France, marking the full delivery of all critical magnet feeder parts for the world’s largest “artificial sun.”
Developed by the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), the magnet feeder system is widely recognized as the “lifeline” of the ITER’s magnet infrastructure. Its largest component — the Correction Coil In-Cryostat Feeder — includes nine massive half-ring structures, each measuring 16 meters in diameter and 3 meters in height.
The ITER project, a symbol of global scientific cooperation, aims to replicate the sun’s fusion energy to create a clean, limitless power source. Funded by a coalition that includes China, the European Union, United States, Japan, South Korea, India, and Russia, the ITER is one of the world’s most ambitious energy endeavors.
“The magnet feeder system is critical,” explained Lu Kun, deputy director of ASIPP. “It delivers power and cooling to the superconducting magnets, returns vital control signals, and safely discharges stored energy from the system.”
ASIPP independently manufactured and tested all 31 feeder sets — weighing a total of 1,600 tonnes — making it the most technically complex and strategically significant portion of China’s contribution to ITER.
“This is not only a triumph of engineering but also of global collaboration,” said Song Yuntao, vice president of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science and director of ASIPP. Over the past two decades, ASIPP has partnered with more than 140 institutions across 50+ countries, playing a key role in helping developing nations launch their own fusion research programs.
With the final shipment complete, the ITER project edges closer to demonstrating nuclear fusion as a viable and sustainable energy solution — a major leap toward a carbon-free future.