China’s “artificial sun” has broken clean energy records as scientists have called fusion the “ultimate energy” for humanity’s future. The Chinese-made fusion reactor hit the headlines this month after creating an “artificial sun” that was five times hotter than it actually was.
The facility broke world records after sustaining a fusion reaction at a temperature of 70 million degrees Celsius for more than 17 minutes.
The China’s Artificial Sun is a project called Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tomahak (EAST) at a research facility in Heifei, Anhui Province, China.
Here’s what the public know so far:
It’s not really the “Sun”
Contrary to the name suggests, EAST is not a floating ball of light launched into the sky. In fact, it is a donut-shaped reactor chamber. In this chamber stores the plasma and which undergoes extreme temperatures.
The goal of this “Sun” is not to provide light or heat. It is the vast amount of clean energy that scientists hope to use to provide clean electricity to entire cities. EAST got its nickname “Artificial Sun” because this energy production process, known as nuclear fusion, recreates the laws of physics that take place in the Sun’s nucleus.
The process uses protons in the nuclei of atoms to generate large amounts of energy into electricity, connecting hydrogen atoms, thus creating a new element, helium.
The project breaks records
Before EAST France’s Tore Supra Tokamak in 2003. reached a record-breaking plasma duration of 6.5 minutes compared to other Tokamak reactors.
South Korea Reactor Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) 2016 also reached a world record. The reactor maintained a temperature of 50 million degrees Celsius (90 million degrees Fahrenheit) for 70 seconds.
EAST broke the KSTAR record in 2021, holding approximately 119 million degrees Celsius (216 million degrees Fahrenheit) for 102 seconds. The EAST also hit another record in May last year. Running 101 seconds at an unprecedented 120 million degrees Celsius (216 million degrees Fahrenheit).
The core of the true Sun has a temperature of about 15 million degrees Celsius (27 million degrees Fahrenheit).
China’s “Artificial Sun” expands the potential of clean energy
Nuclear fusion does not generate greenhouse gases and leaves no radioactive waste. For the fusion reaction we need only helium, the most common element in the world. With the help of electrolysis method water is molecule splits into two elements – oxygen and helium. A by-product of this nuclear reaction is inert helium gas, which is completely harmless to nature and the atmosphere.
Researchers at the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences mentioned the success of EAST in expanding the potential of clean energy in the country.
“Unlike fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, which are threatened by depletion and endanger the environment, the resources needed by the” artificial sun “on Earth are almost limitless.”
Scientist Gong Xianzu
“Therefore, fusion energy is considered the ideal ‘perfect energy’ for the future of humanity,” he continued.
Expensive but worth it
By the estimates, the EAST will cost China more than $ 1 trillion. So far, there is no update about the costs.
It is part of a collaborative project in France known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The largest nuclear reactor in the world. In addition to China, the project involves 35 countries, including the entire European Union, Britain, India and the United States.
According to Live Science, ITER is the most powerful magnet in the world, capable of generating a magnetic field 280,000 times stronger than Earth’s. The global helium fusion reactor should to become operational in 2025.
But China does not stop at EAST. The country plans to complete the new and more powerful Tokamak fusion block in the early 2030s.
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