Thousands of Researchers to Settle in Tianfu Fusion Technology R&D Center

“More than 1,000 researchers will settle in the Tianfu Fusion Technology R&D Center as a whole after the May Day holiday,” learned the reporter at the Fusion Science and Technology Innovation City located in Tianfu New Area, Sichuan Province. Zhang Long, Director of the Fusion Technology Research Institute of Southwest Institute of Physics, China National Nuclear Corporation, stated that the center has already started carrying out a number of key experiments, including the continuous heat load test of the first wall components of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and the helium-cooled loop experiment, moving towards the goals of conducting “burning experiments” and building a fusion engineering test reactor.

Xinhua News Agency reports that fusion energy, hailed as the “ideal energy” due to its abundant raw materials, cleanliness, safety and extremely high energy density, is a key future industry laid out in China’s “15th Five-Year Plan”. As an industrial park led by fusion energy, the Fusion Science and Technology Innovation City has been continuously making efforts in core technology research, major device construction and industrial ecological cultivation since it started construction in October 2025, steadily advancing towards the goals of fusion energy engineering and industrialization.

“There is no ‘pause button’ for fusion research and development. In recent times, the team has been working continuously to complete the process certification and manufacturing preparation for the first batch of ITER first wall components as soon as possible and secure this core task,” said Zhang Long. As the core “armor” of the “artificial sun” facing hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius plasma, the development of the ITER first wall is extremely difficult.

Faced with the world-class problem of material connection, the Chinese scientist team has completed the manufacturing of the first prototype and become the first country in the world to start mass production of this component. “We will also continue to carry out extreme tests on component welding technology and thermal cycle stability to fully ensure the on-schedule delivery of mass production tasks,” Zhang Long added.

Xinhua News Agency notes that the Fusion Science and Technology Innovation City has established an industrial innovation consortium, with the first batch of 18 core member units including scientific research institutes, universities and upstream and downstream enterprises, forming an innovation and development capacity and industrial development ecology covering the entire technical routes of magnetic confinement and inertial confinement.

Wang Yang, Chairman of Sichuan Fusion New Energy Industry Investment and Development Co., Ltd., told reporters, “We have kept working without interruption during the May Day holiday. We not only need to ensure the continuous progress of scientific research, but also accelerate the construction of the park’s infrastructure and supporting platforms to provide full-process guarantee for the scientific research teams and industrialization projects that will settle in concentration.”

At present, the planned area of the core region of the Fusion Science and Technology Innovation City is 4,800 mu, of which 1,800 mu of the innovation source area is nearly saturated, gathering a number of major scientific research platforms such as the Tianfu Fusion Technology R&D Center, the electromagnetic-driven fusion large scientific device and the quasi-axisymmetric stellarator.

With the continuous advancement of construction, the door to international cooperation is opening wider and wider. Relying on the world’s first IAEA Fusion Energy Research and Training Cooperation Center, the Fusion Science and Technology Innovation City is accelerating the construction of a global hub for fusion energy talent and technology exchange. “In July this year, the 15th ITER International School will be held in Chengdu, attracting young scholars in the field of fusion from all over the world to come to China for further study and exchange, and building a global highland for gathering fusion talents,” Zhang Long said.