French scientists on Tuesday announced that they had reached a "crucial milestone" in the long road towards nuclear fusion by managing to maintain raging-hot plasma for a record 22 minutes.

WEST, a tokamak run from the CEA Cadarache site in southern France and one of the EUROfusion consortium medium size Tokamak facilities, was able to maintain a plasma for on 12 February. This was a 25% improvement on the previous record time achieved with EAST,

French research organization CEA reported that on 12 February, the CEA’s WEST tokamak maintained a nuclear fusion plasma for more than 22 minutes, a 25 percent improvement over the previous record. “This leap forward demonstrates how our knowledge of plasmas and technological control of them over longer periods is becoming more

France has taken a major leap forward in the race for nuclear fusion energy, achieving a new world record for plasma duration. On February 12, 2025, scientists at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) successfully sustained a plasma reaction for 1,

Nuclear fusion aims to control inherently unstable plasma, offering a highly efficient energy source with minimal fuel use and no long-lived radioact