On October 7, a delivery ceremony for the Toroidal Field (TF) Magnet Coil Box of China’s “13th Five-Year Plan” major scientific infrastructure—the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT)—jointly developed by Shanghai Electric and the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), was successfully held at the CRAFT campus in Hefei. The successful handover of the TF coil box marks a significant milestone in the construction of the CRAFT project and represents an important step forward in elevating China’s high-end manufacturing capabilities in the field of fusion technology.

As the primary load-bearing structural element of the toroidal field magnet, the coil box is one of the core components of the magnet system. It is designed to protect the TF coil windings while supporting and securing the poloidal field magnets and other superconducting magnet assemblies. The CRAFT TF coil box stands 21 meters high, 12 meters wide, and weighs 400 tons. Fabricated entirely from austenitic stainless steel, it is currently the largest of its kind in the world. Its overall dimensions exceed those of the ITER counterpart by more than 1.2 times, and its weight is approximately double, with manufacturing and inspection requirements far more demanding than those of the ITER project.

Through close collaboration, Shanghai Electric and ASIPP drew on their combined strengths in nuclear equipment manufacturing, integrating advanced capabilities in special materials, precision welding, precision assembly, and extreme-scale machining, to overcome multiple technical challenges. These included: smelting ultra-large, ultra-clean stainless-steel ingots weighing 140 tons, with exceptional low-temperature toughness; achieving 360 mm-thick narrow-gap TIG welding of austenitic stainless steel, setting a new industry record; breaking through the laser deep-penetration welding of 316LN ultra-low-temperature materials to a depth of 80 mm; and controlling the post-weld overall dimensional tolerance of the large-scale component to within 2 millimeters. These breakthroughs fully demonstrate Shanghai Electric’s outstanding innovation capability and high-end manufacturing strength in executing major engineering projects.

In addition to the CRAFT TF coil box, the first BEST TF coil box built by Shanghai Electric was shipped to ASIPP prior to China&39;s National Day and has entered the pre-assembly stage. Furthermore, in July this year, the joint team of ASIPP and Shanghai Electric successfully completed the design and fabrication of the Magnet Cold Test Dewar (MCTB) of the ITER project, delivering it to the ITER site on schedule.

Since its involvement in ASIPP’s HELIMARK vacuum chamber and EAST outer vacuum dewar projects in the early 2000s, Shanghai Electric has been deeply engaged in fusion reactor primary equipment for more than two decades. In recent years, the company has taken an active role in the development of core component systems for major projects such as CRAFT and BEST, contributing to China’s forward-looking layout for the industrialization of fusion energy. Working closely with ASIPP and other research institutes, Shanghai Electric continues to accelerate breakthroughs in key fusion technologies, deepen industry–academia–research collaboration, and build a resilient and vibrant fusion industrial chain—supporting China’s progress from “follower” to “parallel runner,” and now to “leader in key areas.”

Fusion energy is a future-oriented energy technology, and its industrialization is essential to driving technological breakthroughs and commercial application. Shanghai Electric will continue to uphold its commitment to serving national strategies, shoulder its mission and responsibilities, actively participate in major fusion engineering projects, and steadfastly advance technological innovation, continuing to contribute its “Electric Power” to the prosperity and development of China’s fusion energy.