Abstract: 

    Controlled nuclear fusion energy is a technical means to obtain energy through constrained and controlled thermonuclear fusion reactions, which is also an energy acquisition method that human beings have not fully mastered. The research on controlled nuclear fusion energy has been carried out for more than half a century, but it is still a common challenge faced by human beings. It is also one of the important research fields that can fully reflect the national scientific and technological innovation capabilities. So far, China has achieved a series of phased results in the field of controlled nuclear fusion research. As a participating country, it has participated in the largest international scientific and technological cooperation project in the world, namely the ITER. The construction of national major scientific and technological infrastructures such as the EAST, China HL-3, and CRAFT has also greatly promoted the development of China's magnetic confinement nuclear fusion research. As a field of in-depth interdisciplinary integration, the research on controlled nuclear fusion energy has not only promoted the advancement of the corresponding technology but also driven the development of related technologies such as superconducting technology, material science, and power supply technology and facilitated the emergence of sophisticated technologies. During the development of nuclear fusion research, China has gradually built an independent talent system of science, engineering, technology, and management for controlled nuclear fusion, which has enhanced China's core competitiveness in the field of international nuclear fusion research.

    Nuclear fusion research still faces significant challenges, including physical challenges centered on burning plasma, fusion reactor material challenges focused on neutron irradiation resistance, and tritium self-sufficiency technology challenges centered on tritium production cladding. To solve these problems, many researchers should overcome difficulties and forge ahead. Given the urgent need for the transformation of the national energy structure, the strong support of the country, and the unremitting efforts of generations of nuclear fusion researchers, it is believed that the development of controlled nuclear fusion energy in China will become a reality shortly although there are still numerous challenges to overcome in fusion energy research at this stage.

    China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited and China Southern Power Grid, as important members of the Controlled Nuclear Fusion Innovation Consortium, jointly established the energy technology journal Southern Energy Construction through cooperation between their Guangzhou-based organizations and collaborated with Nuclear Techniques, the journal of the Chinese Nuclear Society, to create this special issue on controlled nuclear fusion. This special issue is open to submissions from professional research institutes, higher education institutions, and energy enterprises involved in controlled nuclear fusion research in China, aiming to build an academic exchange platform based on industry-university-research-application collaboration for the integration of controlled nuclear fusion science, technology and engineering. Fusion energy, as a type of potentially significant base load energy, will play an irreplaceable role in future energy supply. Therefore, this journal will continue to focus on the latest research results in China's nuclear fusion field and support the research, development, and academic cultural dissemination of new energy represented by nuclear fusion energy through a series of special issues in the future.