China’s “artificial sun” fusion tokamak has broken the world record by achieving plasma temperature at 120 million °C for 101 seconds and 160 million °C for 20 seconds, a major step toward the test run of the fusion reactor, the state-affiliated Global Times reported.

The previous record was set by the Korean KSTAR fusion device in December 2020 achieving 100 million °C for 20 seconds.

“The breakthrough is significant progress and the ultimate goal should be keeping the temperature at a stable level for a long time,” Li Miao, director of the physics department of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen told the Global Times, adding that the next milestone might be to maintain the stability for a week or more.