KSTAR
tokamak South Korea
KSTAR is a tokamak fusion device run by Korea Institute of Fusion Energy in South Korea. It is operating. Like every fusion device built so far, it has produced no net electricity.
What it has actually demonstrated
Sustained an ion temperature of 100 million °C for a record 48 seconds, early 2024.
Korea's superconducting tokamak, focused on high-temperature plasma duration. 100 million °C is roughly seven times the core of the Sun — fusion on Earth needs higher temperatures than a star because it cannot use a star's gravitational pressure.
Project
| Organisation | Korea Institute of Fusion Energy |
|---|---|
| Approach | tokamak |
| Confinement | magnetic |
| Country | South Korea |
| Status | Operating |
| First plasma | 2008 |
Targets
| Target date | none stated |
|---|---|
| Power target | none stated |
| Energy gain target | none stated |
| Net electricity | No. no fusion device has produced any |
Other tokamak projects
Fusion needs tritium, and the world's civilian stock comes mostly from CANDU fission reactors. See the fusion overview.
Sources
- World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Fusion Power · retrieved 2026-09-07