The SMART tokamak - an experimental fusion device designed, built and operated by the Plasma Science and Fusion Technology Laboratory of the University of Seville, Spain - has generated its first plasma.

Specialists at JSC NIIEFA and MISIS have developed a composite of tungsten and copper, using additive technologies, for the plasma-facing elements of the tokamak divertor of Russia's prototype TRT tokamak nuclear fusion reactor.

A gyrotron built by Japan's Kyoto Fusioneering has been delivered to Tokamak Energy in the UK and is due to be installed on the ST40 spherical tokamak this year - it is expected to play a key role in informing fusion pilot plant designs.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority's LIBRTI programme has announced a series of significant steps to advance fusion energy development. In addition to ordering a neutron source, it has also announced funding for 12 small-scale tritium breeding and digital simulation experiments.

The UK government has announced a GBP410 million (USD500 million) investment to accelerate development of fusion energy. The announcement came as five construction and engineering consortiums have been shortlisted to build the country's STEP prototype fusion plant.

The NEURONE Consortium - a UK Atomic Energy Authority working group - has demonstrated the industrial scale production of fusion-grade steel. This achievement, it says, has the potential to reduce production costs by an order of magnitude and improve the efficiency of future fusion power plants.

US private fusion company Commonwealth Fusion Systems has announced plans to independently finance, construct, own and operate a commercial-scale fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

Two British public sector entities - the UK Atomic Energy Authority and the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Hartree Centre - have teamed up with US-headquartered technology firm IBM to design future experimental fusion power plants.

Scientists at the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Bristol University have created what they say is the world's first carbon-14 diamond battery, which has the potential to power devices for thousands of years.