Explained: What is China’s Experimental Fusion Reactor “Artificial Sun” That Has Set a New Record?

China’s Experimental Advanced Supraconductor Tokamak (EAST), which mimics the sun’s energy-generating process, set a new record after running 101 seconds at 120 million degrees Celsius, according to state media. For another 20 seconds, the “artificial sun” also reached a peak temperature of 288 million degrees Fahrenheit (160 million degrees Celsius), which is more than ten times hotter than the sun.

The latest achievement by Chinese scientists is a significant step in the country’s drive to unleash clean and limitless energy with minimal waste. “The breakthrough is a significant advance, 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. China the Global Times.

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According to experts, however, China’s experimental “artificial sun” still has a long way to go. According to Lin Boquiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, it will take decades for a working reactor to emerge from its experimental phases.

So what is China’s “artificial sun” EAST?

The Experimental Advanced Supraconductor Tokamak (EAST) reactor is an advanced experimental nuclear fusion research device at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, China. The purpose of the artificial sun is to recreate the process of nuclear fusion, which is the same reaction that powers the sun.

The EAST is one of three major domestic tokamaks currently in operation across the country. In addition to EAST, China currently operates the HL-2A and J-TEXT reactors. In December 2020, HL-2M tokamak, China’s largest and most advanced experimental nuclear fusion research device, was successfully put into operation for the first time – an important milestone in the growth of China’s nuclear research capabilities.

Since commissioning in 2006, the EAST has set several records for the duration of extremely hot plasma containment. The EAST project is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) facility, which when commissioned in 2035 will become the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor. The project includes contributions from several countries including India, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States.

How does the “artificial sun” OST work?

The EAST Tokamak device is designed to recreate the nuclear fusion process carried out by the sun and stars. Nuclear fusion is a process in which large amounts of energy are generated without generating large amounts of waste. In the past, energy was generated through nuclear fission – a process in which the nucleus of a heavy atom was split into two or more nuclei of lighter atoms.

Fission is easier to do, but it creates much more nuclear waste. In contrast to nuclear fission, fusion does not emit any greenhouse gases either and is considered a safe process with a lower risk of accidents. Once mastered, nuclear fusion could potentially provide unlimited clean energy and very low costs.

In order for nuclear fusion to take place, enormous heat and pressure is exerted on the hydrogen atoms so that they fuse together. The nuclei of deuterium and tritium – both contained in hydrogen – will fuse to form a helium nucleus, a neutron, and a lot of energy.

The fuel is heated to temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius, so that it forms a hot plasma “soup” of subatomic particles. With the help of a strong magnetic field, the plasma is kept away from the reactor walls so that it does not cool down and lose its potential to generate large amounts of energy. The plasma is trapped for long periods of time for fusion to occur.

What is the latest record and why is it important?

The EAST reactor set a new record on Friday when it reached a plasma temperature of 216 million degrees Fahrenheit and also managed to run at 288 million degrees Fahrenheit for 20 seconds. For comparison: the core of the sun only reaches around 15 million degrees Celsius, which means that the reactor could reach temperatures ten times hotter.

The next goal of the scientists behind the experimental reactor is to maintain the high temperature over a long period of time. Before that, EAST 2018 had reached a record temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius.

This is a step in the right direction for China’s green development, Lin Boquiang told the Global Times. “Rather, it is a future technology that is vital to China’s green development,” he said. But while this is a significant development, Boquiang said it will be a good three decades before China can see a fully functional artificial sun.

But China isn’t the only country that has reached high plasma temperatures. In 2020, the South Korean reactor KSTAR set a new record by maintaining a plasma temperature of over 100 million degrees Celsius for 20 seconds.