Scientists just set a new record in attempts to create an ‘artificial Sun’ down here on planet Earth.
The team behind the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in China kept their fusion drive running for more than 1,000 seconds for the first time – lasting for 1,066 seconds (almost 18 minutes) to be exact.
First powered up in 2006, EAST is one of several nuclear fusion reactors being worked on, in attempts to produce virtually limitless amounts of clean energy in the same way our own Sun produces energy.
Of course, simulating a tiny version of the Sun inside a laboratory is quite a challenge, which is why milestones like this one are so important.
Keeping ultra-hot plasma stable for extended periods of time is crucial to the success of EAST, and the new 1,066-second record smashes the previous one of 403 seconds for these plasma conditions.
The breakthrough was achieved by researchers at the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) and the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), both part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
“A fusion device must achieve stable operation at high efficiency for thousands of seconds to enable the self-sustaining circulation of plasma, which is critical for the continuous power generation of future fusion plants,” says nuclear physicist Song Yuntao from the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
While China hasn’t shared a lot of detail about the conditions for this 1,066-second achievement, the researchers say their heating system has doubled in power through recent innovations – so it can now reach the equivalent of 140,000 microwave ovens being switched on at once.
Since it first went online, the EAST team has made steady progress in increasing the temperature and the stability of the plasma at the core of the machine. It uses what’s known as high-confinement plasma, essentially a better way of trapping the gas.
Tokamak (donut-shaped) reactors like this one use plasma and magnetic fields to create the conditions to smash together hydrogen atoms at incredible speeds and under intense pressure, which then releases huge amounts of energy.
We’re still a long way off getting a fully functioning nuclear fusion reactor that can connect to power grids, but every step forward in the technology is encouraging – and adds to the evidence that this may one day be a viable power source.
So what’s next? Work is already underway on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in the south of France, which promises to be the largest fusion reactor yet – and one that should be capable of breaking even more records.
