German Scientists Successfully Run Fuss Reactors For 43 Seconds

Wendelstein 7-X offers greater potential for long-term surgery (photo: x @rocketengine)

JAKARTA - The world is getting closer to a big dream of creating almost unlimited clean energy. Scientists in Germany have just made new history in the world of nuclear fusion technology with the success of the Wendelstein 7-X reactor retaining a high-temperature plasma reaction for 43 seconds, making it the longest and most stable sustainable fusion experiment for the starcher category so far.

The experiment was carried out at the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP) in the city of Greifswald, which has been the center of development of a complicated design-shaped fusion reactor-type pretzel-like design with a diameter of 15 meters and a height of about 5 meters. Unlike more commonly used tokamak reactors, the starguide uses a complex magnetic field array to maintain plasma stability without requiring internal electric currents, making it more suitable for long-term operations.

In the experiment which took place on May 22, 2025 the last day of their latest research campaign the research team managed to raise plasma temperature to more than 20 million degrees Celsius, even reaching a peak of 30 million degrees Celsius. The temperature and stability were maintained for 43 seconds, setting a world record in the crucial parameters of nuclear fusion called triple product.

Triple product itself is a major benchmark in nuclear fusion physics, which combines three important elements: plasma particle density, ion temperature, and energy depletion time. The high triple product value indicates that the fusion system is getting closer to reaching a break-even point point where the resulting energy is greater than the energy required to sustain the reaction.

According to the researchers, the success of maintaining plasma in more than 30 seconds indicates that the entire system is in stable condition. This allows scientists to observe the real dynamics of plasma physics, providing valuable data for the development of future fusion reactors.

"If we can maintain this condition for 30 seconds, then in theory we can do it for hours, days, even years," said Novimir Pablant, head of the cstellar experimental division of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), United States, quoted by VOI from DailyMail.

This success is also supported by new technological innovations, namely a frozen hydrogen pellet injector system developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, USA. The system injects about 90 one-millimeter hydrogen pellets into the plasma continuously for 43 seconds, keeping the fuel supply stable. Meanwhile, high-power microwaves are used to heat the plasma to reach extreme temperatures.

This record goes beyond the previous achievements held by two well-known tokamak reactors: JET in the UK and JT-60U in Japan, both of which have now been disabled. Although tokamak is easier to build and more studied, starrules like Wendelstein 7-X offer greater potential for long-term operations due to its natural stability.

With development costs reaching 1.6 billion euros (approximately IDR 28 trillion), the Wendelstein 7-X project has been operating since late 2015 and is now considered a new hope for the world in realizing nuclear fusion power plants. If this technology could be developed to the commercialization stage, nuclear fusion would be the most ideal source of clean energy without carbon emissions, without long-term radioactive waste, and with abundant raw materials on Earth, namely hydrogen.

Scientists believe that this success is an important foundation towards a future of energy that is safe, stable, and environmentally friendly. With this breakthrough, the world is increasingly approaching the realization of fusion energy which has been considered a "precise cloud" in the field of modern energy.