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Fusion world

Upgrading JT-60SA to prepare for 2026 experiments

3 Feb 2025

Since achieving first plasma in October 2023, the world’s largest operating tokamak—the joint international fusion experiment JT-60SA—has been undergoing a series of enhancements that are helping to ready the device for its first round of experiments in the second half of 2026.

Technicians inspect the inner wall of the JT-60SA vacuum vessel. The "basic" device configuration that enabled first plasma has been enhanced with components and systems to prepare for more advanced experimentation in 2026.

Part of the Broader Approach Agreement signed between Japan and Euratom (and implemented by QST Japan and the European Domestic Agency for ITER), JT-60SA is designed to support the operation of ITER and to investigate how best to optimize the design and operation of fusion power plants built after ITER.

JT-60SA is a major upgrade of the former JT-60U tokamak, designed with features that allow the optimization of the shape of the plasma (making it more elongated and more “triangular”) to increase the confinement. The machine will allow the exploration of ITER-relevant high-density plasma regimes, well above the high-confined mode (H-mode) power threshold. In addition, the machine will have the capability of operating in different divertor configurations (both single and double null) to test different scenarios.

Since the achievement of first plasma, and the inauguration of the device just a few weeks later, the joint team has been adding key components, including diagnostics, heating, ports and in-vessel equipment such as correction coils. In parallel, scientists are planning for the experimental campaign by reviewing the data from the initial plasma shots. Some 280 European and Japanese scientists collaborate as part of the experiment team.

See the full report on the Fusion for Energy website.
Follow Project Leader Sam Davis on a tour of the device in this new video.

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