Fusion Research Institutes and National Projects: A Directory Covering Japan and 20 Other Countries

Fusion headlines mix research institutes, experimental machines, international organisations and proposed power plants. They are not all competing to demonstrate the same thing. Confining plasma, qualifying heat-resistant materials, processing fuel and integrating a power plant solve different problems.

This guide covers 29 entries across 21 countries and international frameworks, starting with Japan’s QST and NIFS. It distinguishes national laboratories, public-university centres, state-linked institutes and programme-delivery bodies. It is not a census of every organisation worldwide. Based on official material read on 30 October 2026, it explains roles and the development stages that the evidence supports.

• Plasma research: tokamaks and stellarators investigate confinement, heating and control. High temperature or long duration alone does not mean electricity generation.
• Enabling engineering: materials, heat exhaust, fuel cycles, diagnostics and remote maintenance. Facilities that generate no electricity can still provide essential reactor knowledge.
• Burning-plasma and prototype stages: experiments address self-heating by fusion reactions or integrated systems including electricity, fuel and maintenance. Construction, design and targets are not operating achievements.

An “approach” usually describes how plasma is produced and confined, not a complete electricity-generation system. A materials source or funding programme does not have a reactor concept in that sense.

ITER is hosted in France but is an international collaboration. Its seven members are China, Euratom, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States. The UK maintains domestic fusion research but should not be described as a current ITER member. Swiss participation is through the European framework, not an additional membership.

Start with a question, not machine size. Magnetic-confinement questions lead toward facilities such as JT-60SA, W7-X and KSTAR; laser questions toward Osaka or NIF; materials and exhaust toward DONES or Magnum-PSI. This is not a ranking.

For manufacturers and engineers, the research operator is not always the procurement body. ITER divides responsibilities among the international organisation, domestic agencies and suppliers. A machine’s name alone does not identify an open tender or a market-entry route; consult the actual procurement and collaboration arrangements.

Public research is not the opposite of startups. Testing, diagnostics, fuel technology and training can provide capabilities that a single company cannot readily reproduce. However, collaboration with a public institution does not validate a company’s future power-plant performance or economics.

1. Check the boundary of the metric. Plasma records, target energy gain and facility-wide electricity balance are different measures.
2. Check the verb. Designing, constructing, experimenting and generating electricity are different milestones. Facilities such as LHD and JET retain research value after experiments end.
3. Check the organisational type. International frameworks, funding bodies, universities, laboratories, state-owned companies and private firms should not be counted as one category.

Countries not listed here also conduct research. The directory does not include every small device, university group or specialist materials, computing and diagnostic team. Where current material could not be retrieved, limitations are explicit rather than replaced with assumed operating status or commercialisation dates.

Fusion energy requires plasma performance to be connected with materials, fuel, heat exhaust, maintenance and system design. Instead of memorising countries and device names, ask which problem each organisation addresses and what stage has actually been demonstrated. That makes both the science and the industrial landscape easier to understand.

Checked on 30 October 2026. Numbered table links refer to the official sources below.

1. ITER Members — 2026-01-01
2. European Commission — Fusion energy and ITER
3. Fusion for Energy
4. QST 核融合エネルギー部門
5. NIFS — Completion of the LHD Experiment — 2025-12-25
6. NIFS — Research and collaborative platforms
7. The University of Osaka ILE — Laser-produced-high-Field sciences
8. HFIPS — ASIPP progress report — 2026-10-09
9. CAS — BEST construction — 2025-10-10
10. CNNC — Fusion engineering cooperation — 2026-09-28
11. IPP CAS — KFE delegation and KSTAR collaboration — 2026-10-12
12. IPR — Tokamak Plasma Experiments
13. ITER — T-15MD comes on line in Russia — 2021-06-15
14. US DOE — Fusion Energy Sciences
15. PPPL — Virtual tour of NSTX-U
16. LLNL — Achieving Fusion Ignition
17. IPP — Historic and current fusion devices
18. CEA IRFM — WEST C13 campaign — 2026-08-03
19. UKAEA — Research and facilities
20. UK Fusion Energy — STEP programme progress — 2026-10-13
21. DTT — Overview of diagnostic systems — 2026-10-20
22. IFMIF-DONES — About the facility
23. EPFL — Swiss Plasma Center
24. IPP CAS — COMPASS-U mission
25. DIFFER — Magnum-PSI
26. HUN-REN EK — Fusion Plasma Physics Department
27. IPPLM — Institute and research scope
28. UKAEA and CNL — Tritium collaboration — 2024-02-14
29. ANSTO — Nuclear Materials Research and Technology
30. INPE — Fusão Nuclear — 2025-08-26
31. NNC Kazakhstan — Tokamak KTM
32. NXPO and TINT — Fusion Technology Roadmap consultation — 2026-03-16
33. NST — Korea Institute of Fusion Energy