The ceremony marking the start of the assembly of the ITER is held in France. [Photo/WeChat account: hfskjj]

The ceremony to mark the assembly of the world's largest artificial sun, ITER, took place in France on July 28.

ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is considered the world's largest science project and the most significant nuclear fusion project in history. It is a collaboration of 35 nations.

The device will replicate the fusion power of the sun and generate clean and reliable energy for the planet.

Hefei-based company CAS-HIAU and the Institute of Plasma Physics are among the many Chinese companies and institutes involved in this project.

CAS-HIAU contributed to the core part of the power control system of ITER. It also provided power supply devices for EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak), the Chinese artificial sun in Hefei, capital of Anhui province.

Chen Zijian, principal of CAS-HIAU, said R&D experiences on EAST have helped with solving technical problems for the ITER. Chen said the company will also participate in the country's plan to build CFETR (China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor).

CAS-HIAU is supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and is located in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone. Its power supply technology for nuclear fusion reactors won the first prize in the new energy category in the 2017 Anhui Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.

Hefei Institute of Plasma Physics of the CAS is a member of the ITER China work group and has more than 40 years of technical experience in the field of tokamak devices.