CNNC proposes fusion engineering platform, unit signs ITER memorandum

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said in a September 16, 2026 post on its official account that on September 15, during the 70th IAEA General Conference, it hosted a side event titled, in translation, "Fusion Future: Engineering, the Necessary Path to Fusion Energy Application", and used it to propose that the global fusion community jointly build a new international cooperation platform for fusion engineering. Per the post, China Fusion Energy Co, which World Nuclear News describes as part of CNNC, and the ITER Organization signed a memorandum of cooperation, and CNNC's Southwestern Institute of Physics and the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology signed a separate one, agreements CNNC says will further deepen cooperation in fusion engineering technology, research and international exchange. CNNC lists IAEA Deputy Director General Najat Mokhtar and ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi among the attendees.

CNNC says that during the meeting it released a progress report and joint experimental plan for its HL-3 tokamak and opened applications for international partners to take part in experiments; reported construction progress and interim results of what it calls the world's first fusion energy research and training collaborating centre; and promoted a proposed "world fusion engineering alliance" and the already established Controlled Fusion Innovation Consortium, both names in Global Times' English rendering of the post. Global Times, sourcing CNNC, also quotes the company's line for the event: "Fusion is a cause for all humanity, engineering is a common challenge, and cooperation is the only answer."

World Nuclear News reported on September 18, from the event in Vienna, that attendees were told HL-3, which the presentation called the largest and highest-parameter tokamak in China, achieved "dual hundred-million-degree" operation in 2025, with an ion temperature of 120 million degrees Celsius and an electron temperature of 160 million, and that upgrades under way are meant to allow deuterium-tritium burning-plasma experiments in 2027. On WNN's account the opening is not new: the event was told HL-3 has been an ITER satellite device since 2023 and was opened for international cooperation in 2024, since when more than 80 international scientists have participated and more than 260 proposals have been received. WNN also reports a proposed "Global Fusion Supply Chain Sharing Programme" pursuing "joint procurement, unified standards, risk-sharing and technology collaboration", and a Shanghai Fusion Science Research Centre due for completion in 2030 as home to a proposed HL-4 device. None of those figures appears in CNNC's own post. The London summit of September 14 produced a UK-US statement saying fusion safety standards should be distinct from fission's (UK Fusion Week: a UK-US statement, a supercomputer link and up to £3m); the Vienna event, on the accounts above, pitched engineering supply chains and standards.