In 2010, NIF researchers conducted a series of "tuning" shots to determine the optimal target design and laser parameters for high-energy ignition experiments with fusion fuel. Net fuel energy gain was achieved in September 2013.
In April 2014, LLNL ended the Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) program and directed their efforts towards NIF.
A 2012 paper demonstrated that a dense plasma focus had achieved temperatures of 1.8 billion degrees Celsius, sufficient for boron fusion, and that fusion reactions were occurring primarily within the contained plasmoid, necessary for net power.
In August 2014, MIT announced a tokamak it named the ARC fusion reactor, using rare-earth barium-copper oxide (REBCO) superconducting tapes to construct high-magnetic field coils that it claimed produced comparable magnetic field strength in a smaller configuration than other designs.
In October 2015, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics completed building the largest stellarator to date, the Wendelstein 7-X. In December they produced the first helium plasma, and in February 2016 produced hydrogen plasma. In 2015, with plasma discharges lasting up to 30 minutes, Wendelstein 7-X attempted to demonstrate the essential stellarator attribute: continuous operation of a high-temperature plasma.
In 2014 EAST achieved a record confinement time of 30 seconds for plasma in the high-confinement mode (H-mode), thanks to improved heat dispersal. This was an order of magnitude improvement vs other reactors. In 2017 the reactor achieved a stable 101.2-second steady-state high confinement plasma, setting a world record in long-pulse H-mode operation.
In 2018 MIT scientists formulated a theoretical means to remove the excess heat from compact nuclear fusion reactors via larger and longer divertors.
In 2019 the United Kingdom announced a planned £200-million (US$248-million) investment to produce a design for a fusion facility named the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), by the early 2040s.