China’s “artificial sun” can withstand 120 million degrees Celsius for over 100 seconds; sets new world record | The Weather Channel – Article by The Weather Channel

The experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST).

(Xinhua / Zhou Mu / IANS)

China’s “artificial sun” recently broke the world record when it reached a plasma temperature of 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds and 160 million Celsius for 20 seconds. This has set new records in the field of nuclear fusion, it was said in media reports.

The experiment was conducted using the Experimental Advanced Supraconductor Tokamak (EAST) device, or “artificial sun,” located at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Global Times reported. EAST is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) – a cooperation of 35 nations, including India.

EAST is designed to replicate the naturally occurring nuclear fusion process found in the sun and stars to provide almost infinitely clean energy through controlled nuclear fusion, often referred to as the “artificial sun”.

So far, the plasma could be kept at a temperature of 100 million Celsius for 100 seconds.

“The breakthrough is a significant step forward, and the ultimate goal should be to keep the temperature stable for a long time,” said Li Miao, director of the physics department at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen.

The next milestone could be maintaining stability for a week or more, Li added.

Reaching a plasma temperature of over 100 million Celsius is one of the most important challenges when using nuclear fusion. It is widely believed that the temperature in the core of the sun is 15 million degrees Celsius, which means that the plasma in the core of the device is seven times hotter than that of the sun.

The ITER project aims to prove that fusion energy can be produced on a commercial scale and is sustainable.

The world’s largest experimental fusion device, ITER, is being built in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, around 35 km north of Aix-en-Provence in southern France.

India is one of the seven partners (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, USA and Europe) in the form of benefits in kind and in cash in a unique global collaboration.

India along with others also supplied ITER’s massive, unique magnets and other components to France. The 1,250-ton cryostat base, the first two sections of which were built by Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is India’s largest single purchase for the 42-hectare ITER facility.

Fusion is the process that powers the sun and stars. When light atomic nuclei fuse to form heavier ones, a large amount of energy is released.

Fusion research aims to develop a safe, abundant, and environmentally sound source of energy. The project is expected to be completed by the first plasma in 2025, an important milestone on the way to full fusion performance by 2035.

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