ST40 tokamak plasma pulse 10969

This is one of the first plasma pulses of our new campaign with our record-breaking ST40 tokamak.

Last year, we achieved verified plasma temperatures of over 100 million degrees Celsius, considered the threshold for fusion energy and proving the potential for fusion power plants based on the high field spherical tokamak.

In this campaign, we’re developing what’s known as ‘diverted plasma’ scenarios, which should lead to higher performance plasmas, as well as commissioning our Thomson Scattering diagnostic to measure electron density and temperature profiles.

The campaign runs for three months and the learnings will inform our fusion pilot plant programme, which will demonstrate the capability to deliver clean, affordable and secure fusion energy to the grid in the 2030s.