China conducted a nuclear fusion experiment for advancing its artificial sun project. Here’s everything about it.
All about China’s artificial sun
According to Xinhua News Agency, a state-run media, China’s Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences began the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) heating system project. This step will immensely help in making the auxiliary heating system or the artificial sun more durable and hotter. So far, the nation has spent millions on the tokamak. The tokamak is a drought-shaped installation that uses high temperatures for boiling hydrogen isotopes into plasma. This helps infuse them to release the energy.
Successful use will lead to the utilization of very little fuel and create virtually zero radioactive waste. “Five years from now, we will start to build our fusion reactor, which will need another 10 years of construction. After that is built we will construct the power generator and start generating power by around 2040,” stated Song Yuntao. Yuntao is the deputy director of Hefei Institutes Institute of Plasma Physics.
More about EAST heating systems
The nuclear fusions used in the artificial system were first operated in 2006. By reaching 160 million degrees Celcius and becoming 10 times hotter than the sun, the system broke a record in June 2021. With this, China is working towards restarting its domestic nuclear reactor program. “China has been researching fusion since 1958, but at the current stage, it is still more about international cooperation than competition,” said Song.
China is also a member of a 35-nation ITER program. The fusion project costs over $11 million and is being constructed in France. China is manufacturing 9 percent of the compounds and playing a vital role in core tech related to magnetic containment. It is also in charge of producing extremely high-temperature resistant components. ITER is going to generate the first plasma by 2025. Once built, it will be creating 500 megawatts of power from an input of 50 megawatts, increasing energy tenfold.