The fabrication of the first piece of enhanced heat flux first wall panels, a core component of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), was completed on Nov 22. With its core indicators significantly better than design requirements, it is well positioned for mass production.

The China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) Southwestern Institute of Physics undertook the research and development of a full-size prototype for the enhanced heat flux first wall panels of the ITER, the world's largest "artificial sun", under the guidance of the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center. After achieving the mass production of the ITER first wall finger parts, the Southwestern Institute of Physics, in collaboration with Guizhou Aerospace Xinli Technology on making a series of technological breakthroughs, successfully completed the welding and assembly of separate parts.

After the ceremony for the first piece of the ITER first wall, the CNNC's Southwestern Institute of Physics signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the 10th institute of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) on the in-depth integration of the nuclear and aerospace industries, the expansion of their cooperative fields, and the establishment of regular cooperative mechanisms, to make greater contributions to the cause of nuclear fusion and aerospace.