Tokamak Energy of the UK announced it has demonstrated a transformative magnet protection technology that improves the commercial viability of fusion power plants, delivering higher performance than alternative magnet systems. It said results from the latest tests validate a revolutionary approach to scaling up high-temperature superconducting magnets, which are highly resilient to plasma disruptions.

The USA's National Ignition Facility has achieved a record fusion yield that it says puts it "at the threshold of fusion ignition". The record laser shot produced 25 times more than the facility's next best experiment.

Fusion energy developer Helion Energy has broken ground on a new facility in Everett, Washington, which will house its seventh generation fusion prototype, known as Polaris. Construction of the facility, which will also produce helium-3 fuel, is expected to be completed in early-2022. Meanwhile, General Fusion and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories are to collaborate on the development of tritium extraction techniques for use in commercial fusion power plants.

Fusion energy developer Helion Energy said yesterday it has become the first private company to announce exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius in its sixth fusion generator prototype, Trenta. It also announced its Trenta prototype recently finished a 16-month testing campaign, completing almost 10,000 high-power pulses.

Canadian company General Fusion is to build and operate a plant to demonstrate its nuclear fusion technology at UKAEA's Culham Campus near Oxford in the UK. The Fusion Demonstration Plant will pave the way for a commercial pilot plant using Magnetised Target Fusion technology and is expected to begin operations in 2025.

The European Organisation for Nuclear Research has completed the acceptance testing of Russian-made niobium-tin superconductors made as part of the Future Circular Collider CERN Conductor Development Programme. TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturer subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, said the high performance of the wire fully complies with the CERN specification.

Japan's Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation announced today it has completed the manufacture of the first of four toroidal field coils it is supplying to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project. Nine of ITER's 18 toroidal field coils, plus a spare, are being fabricated in Europe with the other nine being made in Japan. Gigantic superconducting magnets, they will generate the magnetic cage to contain the ITER fusion reactor's plasma.

Initial results from the UK Atomic Energy Authority's new MAST Upgrade experiment at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, England, have demonstrated the effectiveness of an innovative exhaust system designed to make compact fusion power plants commercially viable. The new exhaust system - called the Super-X divertor - is designed to channel plasma out of the machine at temperatures low enough for its materials to withstand - meaning that components can last much longer.

First Light Fusion has completed construction of a 22-metre-long two-stage gas gun as part of its experimental efforts to develop "a simpler, faster, and cheaper route" to commercial fusion energy. The UK company says it has successfully fired first test shots, with fusion experimental shots on the new device starting next month.

From a childhood fascination with "what small means" to simulating the power of the sun to bring affordable energy to all of mankind. This is the journey described by Sergio Orlandi, head of the Central Engineering and Plant Directorate at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

The sixth Poloidal Field coil of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor was inserted into the fusion machine's tokamak pit on April 21. The milestone marks the beginning of the assembly of ITER's magnet system, which will control the shape and stability of the ITER plasma. First plasma at ITER - in Cadarache, France - is planned for 2025, with deuterium-tritium fusion experiments commencing in 2035.

TAE Technologies, the California, USA-based fusion energy technology company, has announced that its proprietary beam-driven field-reversed configuration plasma generator has produced stable plasma at over 50 million degrees Celsius. The milestone has helped the company raise USD280 million in additional funding.