In November, a team of scientists from China announced that the Experimental Tokamak Superconducting Reactor (EAST), an “artificial sun” designed to mimic the Sun’s nuclear fusion process to generate energy , had reached a milestone after reaching a temperature of electrons 100 million degrees Celsius or nearly seven times hotter than the core of our closest star, which peaks at around 15 million degrees Celsius.
The achievement was considered a milestone in the country’s quest for affordable clean resources.
During the nuclear fusion process, the gas is heated and separated into its constituent ions and electrons. For fusion to generate energy, the temperature of the ions must exceed 100 million degrees Celsius, hence the development of a more powerful and advanced device than EAST – which was built by scientists from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science in China. .
Now, the researchers say they are convinced that they can finish the construction of a new artificial sun this year, and believe that this device will be able to reach a milestone in the temperature of the ions, which brings us one step closer to harnessing the power of nuclear fusion.
An ‘artificial sun’ in order to have cheap, almost unlimited and renewable energy
The new artificial sun, to be completed this year, is designed to replicate nuclear fusion processes that naturally occur in our star, the Sun, and the device is expected to convert hydrogen into profitable green energy.
The machine, called in this case HL-2M Tokamak, is being built at the Southwestern Institute of Physics, which is affiliated with the National Nuclear Corporation of China.
Energetic bursts
Scientists believe that nuclear fusion occurs at 100 million degrees Celsius, causing charged particles of deuterium and tritium – a natural isotope of hydrogen – to coalesce in a huge burst of energy. These particles normally repel each other, and enormous temperatures are required to overcome their opposing forces. The goal of the team behind EAST was to better understand the fusion process before building a full reactor.
EAST currently holds the world record for sustaining a reaction in a Tokamak, 101.2 seconds in 2017.
The Tokamak is the most developed magnetic confinement system in the world and is the basis for the design of many modern fusion reactors. In it, light elements, such as hydrogen, break down to form heavier elements, such as helium. For fusion to occur, hydrogen atoms are placed at high temperatures and pressure until they fuse.
Tokamak Energy, an Oxfordshire-based nuclear fusion company, claims it will build a fusion reactor for power generation by 2030.
“The artificial plasma of the sun is mainly composed of electrons and ions,” explains Duan Xuru, an official with the China National Nuclear Corporation. According to Duan, the HL-2M Tokamak will be able to reach an ion temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius. If they succeed, the device could serve as a template for future nuclear fusion reactors, bringing the dream of unlimited clean energy closer to reality.
“To increase the temperature of the ions to more than 100 million degrees Celsius, we need higher parameters of the device, we inject and absorb more energy and operate in a more advanced working mode,” Duan said.
The new HL-2M device will have such capabilities and hopefully raise the plasma electrical current level of the current device, greatly improving the plasma parameters, providing main technical support for China’s participation in the experiment. and the operation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ( ITER ), a large international scientific project in which 35 countries collaborate, including China, Russia and the United States.
