Historical record in nuclear fusion: Reactor worked for 16 minutes

Historical record in nuclear fusion: Reactor worked for 16 minutes

By admin, Ocak 22, 2025

Historical record in nuclear fusion: Reactor worked for 16 minutes





Historical record in nuclear fusion: Reactor worked for 16 minutes




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Chinese, nuclear fusion He made another milestone in his research. Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (called “Artificial Sun”)EAST) reactor, plasma temperature 1.006 seconds He broke a world record by keeping temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius for 16 minutes and 46 seconds.

Critical threshold in nuclear fusion exceeded

EAST has the ability to simulate the operational environment of future nuclear fusion power plants. According to Chinese scientists, this success is an important milestone on the way to turning fusion reactors into a commercial reality. EAST had previously broken the record with its continuous operation of 403 seconds in 2023 and 101 seconds in 2021. Therefore previous record nearly tripled. This period is necessary for fusion energy to become a continuous and reliable energy source. a critical threshold It is evaluated as.




Historical record in nuclear fusion: Reactor worked for 16 minutes




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The purpose of fusion reactors is to mimic the process of nuclear fusion in the Sun. clean, unlimited and sustainable energy is to provide. However, this process involves major technical challenges, such as heating the plasma to over 100 million degrees Celsius, ensuring stable trapping of the plasma for long periods of time, and precisely controlling the fusion process. As in the Sun, hydrogen atoms are used as the main fuel in fusion applications on Earth. Unlike fission, in the fusion process these atoms are heated at incredibly high temperatures. (The temperature at the core of the sun is about 15 million degrees Celsius) are combined and a tremendous energy emerges. This type of reactors can be used not only in electricity generation but also in space research and vehicles. And it is possible to travel to previously unthinkable distances.

Song Yuntao, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “A fusion device must operate stably at high efficiency for thousands of seconds to enable self-sustainable circulation of plasma. This is critical for the uninterrupted energy production of future fusion power plants,” he said.

However, EAST has improved many of its systems since the last experiments. One of these was a heating system that worked the equivalent of 70,000 household microwave ovens; this system can now produce twice as much power. The ultimate goal of the EAST project is to create an endless and clean energy source similar to the Sun. At the same time, this project aims to provide the necessary systems for space exploration beyond the Solar system.

China joined the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program in 2006 as the seventh member. In this context, China undertakes approximately 9% of the construction and operation of the project. ITER, built in the south of France, will be the world’s largest magnetic plasma fusion device when completed. EAST’s achievements also contribute to the ITER and China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) projects.






Source

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/china-artificial-sun-sets-record


https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3295609/chinas-nuclear-fusion-scientists-set-record-span-plasma-6-times-hotter-sun






















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