A nuclear fusion reactor in China, nicknamed the “artificial sun”, broke its own record, bringing humanity closer to almost unlimited clean energy.
O China’s “artificial sun” This Monday, it broke its own world record for maintaining superhot plasma.
The was advanced by the Chinese state press, marking another milestone on the long road to almost unlimited clean energy.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) nuclear fusion reactor maintained a stable, highly confined circuit of plasma – the fourth high-energy state of matter – for 1066 seconds – which more than doubled his previous record of 403 seconds.
As explained by , nuclear fusion reactors are nicknamed “artificial suns” because they generate energy in a similar way to the sun – fusing two light atoms into a single heavy atom through heat and pressure.
EAST is a magnetic confinement reactor – or tokamak – designed to keep the plasma in continuous combustion for prolonged periods.
Reactors like this never reached ignitionwhich is the point at which nuclear fusion creates its own energy and sustains its own reaction, but the new record is a step forward in maintaining the prolonged, confined plasma loops that future reactors will need to generate electricity.
“A fusion device must achieve stable, high-efficiency operation for thousands of seconds to enable self-sustained circulation of plasma – which is critical for continuous energy production in future fusion power plants,” explained Song Yuntao, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics responsible for the fusion project at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to Chinese state media.
But the “Holy Grail” is still far away
Nuclear fusion offers the potential for a nearly limitless energy source without greenhouse gas emissions or much nuclear waste. Researchers hope we can have fusion energy within decades to speed up the response to the climate crisis.
However, it may take much longer. The new EAST record does not allow the immediate creation of what is called the “Holy Grail” of clean energy.
Furthermore, EAST, like the various nuclear fusion reactors around the world, currently consume much more energy than they produce.
In 2022, for example, the US National Ignition Facility’s fusion reactor achieved a brief ignition in its core, using a different experimental method than EAST, which relies on rapid bursts of energy. However, the reactor as a whole continued to use more energy than it consumed.
China is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program, which is being built in France, but which includes the USA, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
ITER contains the most powerful magnet in the world. It will be activated, at best, in 2039. As Live Science writes, it is used to create sustained fusion for research purposes, and could also pave the way for fusion power plants.
