The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Sciences sustained an H-mode plasma discharge for 1,066 seconds — nearly three times its previous record of 403 seconds set in early 2025.

H-mode, or high-confinement mode, is the operational regime required for reactor-grade plasmas. Sustaining it for nearly 18 minutes pushes EAST into a domain previously accessible only in modeling studies, with implications for both ITER operations planning and for China's domestic CFETR programme.

H-mode, or high-confinement mode, is the operational regime required for reactor-grade plasmas.

Institute director Song Yuntao said the run was conducted at temperatures above 70 million °C with full superconducting field operation. EAST has been the principal long-pulse fusion test bed since its commissioning in 2006.