China is making sustained nuclear fusion possible in a world-first using its artificial sun.
The new device and the experiments conducted on it are proof of the world going towards successful nuclear fusion, which is a far better pick than nuclear fission processes. The new Chinese device could potentially revolutionize the energy landscape.
The device was previously announced to be completed as a prime source to produce massive energy by the end of 2019, however, it got delayed due to a variety of causes.
The device fired up a year later from its announced release date. The world saw HL-2M Tokamak firing up for the first time in the December of 2020. The news brought along a solution to the energy crisis that the world faces, as it produces cleaner and abundant energy compared to the nuclear fission process.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak also called EAST, is China’s nuclear reactor aka artificial sun. It broke the world record and achieved plasma temperature at 216 million degrees Fahrenheit for a duration of almost 100 seconds, it also sustained 288 million degrees Fahrenheit of temperature for a fraction of 20 seconds, as reported by the Chinese state-affiliated newspaper Global Times.
Li Miao, Director of the physics department of the Southern University of Science and Technology, said, “this step is a key milestone in reaching the goal of keeping the temperature at a stable level for a long time, a necessary step in getting the nuclear fusion reactor to work.”
“The breakthrough is significant progress, and the ultimate goal should be keeping the temperature at a stable level for a long time,” Li told the Global Times.
In contrast, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research said, “It’s more like a future technology that’s critical for China’s green development push.” While pointing out that the world is still nearly three decades away from developing a functioning artificial sun.
However, scientists and researchers are certain that once the technology is established, it will take no longer at that point to produce unlimited clean energy at substantially cheaper costs.
