https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3216916/chinas-artificial-sun-breaks-record-marking-latest-milestone-quest-efficient-thermonuclear-fusion?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cm&utm_campaign=enlz-today_international&utm_content=20230413&tpcc=enlz-today_international&UUID=ddccc17d-8c0d-4396-ab41-a00444149cf6&next_article_id=3216879&article_id_list=3216916,3216879,3216907,3216927,3216891,3216880,3216932,3216906&tc=4&CMCampaignID=e0ba158f5e5a9e40a8816d96bb2148dcChina’s ‘artificial sun’ breaks record, marking latest milestone in quest for efficient thermonuclear fusion reactors
- The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak generates and sustains plasma for nearly seven minutes – four times as long as its previous record
- It uses powerful magnetic fields to confine super-hot plasma, forcing hydrogen to combine into heavier atoms and releasing energy in the process
China’s “artificial sun” set a world record on Wednesday night by generating and maintaining extremely hot, highly confined plasma for nearly seven minutes.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in the city of Hefei in eastern China generated and sustained plasma for 403 seconds, breaking its previous record of 101 seconds in 2017 and marking another key step towards building high-efficiency, low-cost thermonuclear fusion reactors.
“The main significance of this new breakthrough lies in its ‘high-confinement mode’, under which the temperature and density of the plasma increase significantly,” said Song Yuntao, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which built EAST. State news agency Xinhua quoted Song as saying the work laid a solid foundation for improving the technical and economic feasibility of fusion reactors.
China’s artificial sun project sparks discovery in fusion energy
Nuclear fusion – the same process through which our sun generates light and heat – is seen as a safe, clean and near-limitless energy source. For decades, scientists have worked to develop “artificial suns” by heating hydrogen atoms to above 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) and confining them long enough so they can merge into heavier atoms, releasing enormous energy in the process.
EAST, which began operating in 2006, represents one of the most promising paths towards controlled nuclear fusion. It conducted more than 120,000 experiments to reach the latest milestone.
“The record is also a big step forward for our team in terms of fundamental physics research, fusion engineering, and project operation and maintenance,” Song was quoted as saying. Song said his team had worked day and night for an entire week to achieve the record-breaking operation, and that “tonight would be another sleepless night [for celebration]”.
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EAST is the world’s first superconducting tokamak – a machine that uses powerful magnetic fields to confine super-hot plasma in a doughnut-shaped space and force it to combine over time. It uses cutting-edge technology and millions of parts to work like a “mini sun”.
It has achieved several records, including containing plasma at around 70 million degrees Celsius for almost 18 minutes in 2021 under a different operation mode from the one used in Wednesday’s experiment. China is also a member of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the world’s largest fusion reactor now under construction in France.
China has completed the design of its next-generation artificial sun, called the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR), which aims to be the world’s first fusion demonstration reactor, according to Xinhua. Once completed around 2035, CFETR will produce a massive quantity of heat with a peak power output of up to 2 gigawatts.