China’s “artificial solar” reactor has dented its own world record for maintaining very hot plasma, marking one step on the long road to nearly unlimited blank energy.
The Experimental Superconducting Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) nuclear fusion reactor maintained a stable, highly confined plasma loop (the fourth high-energy state) for 1,066 seconds on Monday (Jan. 20), more than double its previous record of 403 seconds. second, Chinese state media reported.
Nuclear fusion reactors are nicknamed “artificial suns” because they generate energy in a similar way to the sun — by fusing two light atoms into a single heavy atom via heat and pressure. The sun has a lot more pressure than Earth’s reactors, so scientists compensate by using temperatures that are many times hotter than the sun.
Nuclear fusion offers the potential of a near-unlimited power source without greenhouse gas emissions or much nuclear waste. However, scientists have been working on this technology for more than 70 years, and it’s likely not progressing fast enough to be a practical solution to the climate crisis. Researchers expect us to have fusion power within decades, but it could take much longer.
EAST’s new record probably won’t immediately usher in what’s known as the “holy grail” of blank power, but it’s a step toward an imaginable future in which fusion power plants will generate electricity.
This is a magnetic confinement reactor, or tokamak, designed to keep plasma burning frequently for long periods. Reactors like this have never reached ignition, which is the point at which nuclear fusion creates its own energy and sustains its own reaction, but this new record is a step toward keeping the confined and extended plasma loops that long reactors term they will need to produce electricity. .
“A fusion device will need to achieve robust operation at full power for thousands of seconds to enable self-sustaining plasma flow, which is imperative for long-term uninterrupted power production of fusion plants,” Song said. Yuntao, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics responsible for the fusion task at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Chinese state media.
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EAST is one of several nuclear fusion reactors in the world, but lately they all consume much more energy than they produce. In 2022, the fusion reactor at the United States National Ignition Facility managed to briefly ignite its core using a different experimental approach than EST, relying on immediate bursts of power, but the reactor overall used more energy than it consumed.
Tokamaks like EAST are the most common nuclear fusion reactors. EAST heats the plasma and traps it in a doughnut-shaped reactor chamber, called a tokamak, with strong magnetic fields. To get the latest record, researchers made several innovations to the reactor, doubling the strength of its heating system, according to Chinese state media.
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The knowledge gathered through EAST will contribute to the advancement of other reactors, whether in China or internationally. China is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program, which reaches dozens of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
The ITER reactor, built in the south of France, is the strongest magnet in the world and will be commissioned in 2039 at the earliest. ITER will be an experimental tool designed to create sustainable fusion for study purposes, but it may pave the way for way for Fusion Power Plants.
“We hope to expand foreign collaboration to the EAST and implement fusion power for mankind,” Song said.
Patrick Pester is the trending news editor at Live Science. His background is in conservation and he has worked with endangered species from all over the world. Patrick holds a master’s degree in foreign journalism from Cardiff University in the UK.
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