This paper will discuss simulations of the full ionization process (i.e. plasma burn-through), fundamental to creating high temperature plasma. By means of an applied electric field, the gas is partially ionized by the electron avalanche process. In order for the electron temperature to increase, the remaining neutrals need to be fully ionized in the plasma burn-through phase, as radiation is the main contribution to the electron power loss. The radiated power loss can be significantly affected by impurities resulting from interaction with the plasma facing components. The DYON code is a plasma burn-through simulator developed at Joint European Torus (JET) (Kim et al and EFDA-JET Contributors 2012 Nucl. Fusion52 103016, Kim, Sips and EFDA-JET Contributors 2013 Nucl. Fusion53 083024). The dynamic evolution of the plasma temperature and plasma densities including the impurity content is calculated in a self-consistent way using plasma wall interaction models. The recent installation of a beryllium wall at JET enabled validation of the plasma burn-through model in the presence of new, metallic plasma facing components. The simulation results of the plasma burn-through phase show a consistent good agreement against experiments at JET, and explain differences observed during plasma initiation with the old carbon plasma facing components. In the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the allowable toroidal electric field is restricted to 0.35 (V m−1), which is significantly lower compared to the typical value (∼1 (V m−1)) used in the present devices. The limitation on toroidal electric field also reduces the range of other operation parameters during plasma formation in ITER. Thus, predictive simulations of plasma burn-through in ITER using validated model is of crucial importance. This paper provides an overview of the DYON code and the validation, together with new predictive simulations for ITER using the DYON code.