China aims to commercialise nuclear fusion technology for use in emissions-free power generation by 2050, according to the country’s state-owned nuclear power company.

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which operates the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (East) fusion plant at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hefei, could start commercial operation of its first fusion power generation project about five years after a demonstration phase starting around 2045, the company said in a media briefing.

The East plant, known as the ‘artificial Sun’, is used for research in nuclear fusion, a process which replicates the processes that occur naturally in the Sun and stars. The ultimate goal is to used controlled nuclear fusion to provide almost infinite clean energy.