China achieved a significant milestone in the development of its next-generation "artificial sun" technology, with one of its key subsystems successfully passing expert review and acceptance procedures on Monday (13/10).
The Divertor prototype at the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT) was developed by the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The prototype is one of 19 key subsystems of CRAFT, a platform where engineers develop and test critical components for fusion reactors.
This achievement marks the successful development of the world's largest prototype divertor component with the highest thermal load, developed independently by China.
Test results show that the component is capable of achieving a steady-state thermal load of 20 megawatts per square meter, supported by its flat-plate design that keeps the tungsten surface temperature below the recrystallization threshold.
As a critical component in the steady-state operation of a fusion reactor core, the divertor is responsible for removing fusion products and heat, as well as controlling impurities.
This photo taken on October 13, 2025, shows the Divertor Prototype of the CRAFT (Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology) in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. (ANTARA/Xinhua/Zhou Mu)
One of the key innovations of the CRAFT Divertor Prototype is its integrated mixed divertor layer design, which can theoretically increase the tritium breeding ratio by more than 3 percent, thus facilitating self-sustaining tritium.
