Construction crews at the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center began installing the cryostat base for the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST), a compact high-field device backed jointly by ASIPP and private investor ENN Group. First plasma is scheduled for 2027, with deuterium-tritium burning plasma demonstrations targeted for 2030.

BEST is designed around domestically produced REBCO high-temperature superconducting tape from Shanghai Superconductor Technology and Shanghai Creative Superconductor Technology — the same supplier base that scaled output to more than 1,000 kilometers of tape last year. Officials confirmed peak design field strength of 12.5 tesla at the conductor, with a plasma volume roughly one-third that of ITER.

Officials confirmed peak design field strength of 12.5 tesla at the conductor, with a plasma volume roughly one-third that of ITER.

The BEST timeline runs parallel to CFETR, the larger demonstration reactor scheduled for the early 2030s. Combined, the two projects represent more than ¥80 billion (roughly $11 billion USD) of committed Chinese government and private fusion spending — now the largest national fusion program by deployed capital.