We are pleased to announce that ENN has officially joined the physics activities of the International Tokamak Physics and Engineering Activity (ITPEA) as of April 2026. This makes us the first private company in China and the second in the world to participate in this international collaboration, following Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

ENN’s EXL-50U spherical tokamak

The ITPEA Coordinating Committee formally invited ENN to join in December 2025, and we completed all necessary procedures in February of this year. Under the existing framework, our researchers will now participate in ITPEA physics activities on the same basis as staff from publicly funded institutes within ITER Members.

Previously, private sector staff could only attend individual topical group meetings on an ad-hoc basis. Following amendments to the ITPEA Charter and the IEA CTP-TCP agreement in 2025, long-term participation for private companies has been enabled. The scope of ITPEA has also been expanded to include engineering activities alongside physics R&D.

Camera view inside the EXL-50U tokamak during a 1 MA plasma discharge (left). Time traces of main plasma parameters (right).

At our campus in Langfang, ENN is advancing fusion research based on the proton-boron process along the spherical tokamak line. In 2018, we initiated the design and construction of our first medium-sized spherical torus experimental device, EXL-50, which achieved first plasma in August 2019. In 2022, we began upgrading the device to EXL-50U. Since then, the upgraded facility has delivered significant results, including a plasma current of 1 MA, a central toroidal magnetic field of 1.2 T sustained for several seconds, an electron temperature of 100 million degrees, an ion temperature of 50 million degrees, and H-mode operation.

For our next-step device, EHL-2, we have advanced the design to target a plasma current of up to 3 MA. The physics and engineering design is nearly finalized, and assembly of the main machine remains on track for completion in 2027, after which commissioning will begin.

We look forward to productive collaboration with public labs and private partners through ITPEA and other channels to accelerate the development of fusion as a practical energy source.