A new record for maintaining plasma burning inside a fusion reactor has been set in France, beating China's previous benchmark by 25%.
France's WEST fusion reactor has shattered a nuclear fusion record set by China just a few weeks ago, marking yet another small but significant step on the road toward near-limitless clean energy. The CEA's (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) WEST tokamak nuclear fusion reactor maintained a steady loop of burning plasma for a record 1,337 seconds, according to a Feb. 18 announcement — beating China's previous 1,066-second benchmark , set on Jan. 20, by 25%. "WEST has achieved a new key technological milestone by maintaining hydrogen plasma for more than twenty minutes through the injection of 2 MW of heating power," Anne-Isabelle Etienvre , CEA director of fundamental research, said in a statement . (2 megawatts being enough to power more than 1,000 homes ). "Experiments will continue with increased power." Scientists have been trying to harness the power of nuclear fusion — the process that…