China has successfully made a new record which is a league of its own.
China’s artificial sun sets a new world record as it achieved a plasmatemperature of 120 million degrees Celsius for a period of 101 seconds.
The huge accomplishment is a key step toward the test running of a fusionreactor. Announced by Gong Xianzu who is a researcher at the Institute ofPlasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), was in charge ofthe experiment conducted in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province.
The research at the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST),or the Chinese “artificial sun,” also realized a plasma temperature of 160million degrees Celsius, lasting for 20 seconds.
The ultimate goal of EAST, located at ASIPP in Hefei, is to create nuclearfusion like the Sun, using deuterium abound in the sea to provide a steadystream of clean energy.
It is estimated that the deuterium in one liter of seawater can produce,through fusion reaction, the amount of energy equivalent to 300 liters ofgasoline.
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Around 300 scientists and engineers mobilized to support the operation ofthe doughnut-shaped experiment facility, which includes a vacuum system, RFwave system, laser scattering system, and microwave system. Preparation andupgrading work for the experiment started about a year ago, the institutesaid.
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“It’s a huge achievement in China’s physics and engineering fields. Theexperiment’s success lays the foundation for China to build its own nuclearfusion energy station,” said Song Yuntao, director of ASIPP.
One of the most comprehensive frontiers of today’s physics, Fusion energyrequires top scientific research ability and massive experimentalinstruments.
