China have an 'artificial sun', and it has been activated
China have taken a huge step in their attempts to produce low-carbon energy, successfully activating their most advanced experimental nuclear fusion reactor.
Despite being the world's leading polluter, China are also the nation which invest the most in renewable energy.
The Asian country's focus has been on nuclear fusion, which is considered to be the energy of tomorrow, given it is infinite, much like that of the sun, and doesn't produce waste nor greenhouse gases.
China's 'artificial sun' nuclear fusion reactor has set a new world record after running at 216million degrees Fahrenheit (120million°C) for 100 seconds, according to state media.
It also achieved a peak temperature of 288million°F (160million°C) – more than ten times hotter than the sun.
Chinese scientists hope the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) will unlock a powerful green energy source in Beijing's quest for 'limitless clean power'.
In November 2018, Chinese researchers announced that the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor — an “artificial sun” designed to mimic the nuclear fusion process the real Sun uses to generate energy — had hit a milestone by achieving an electron temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius.
Recently an official at the China National Nuclear Corporation announced during the annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference that engineers would wrap up construction on the nation’s HL-2M Tokamak in 2019.
The artificial sun’s plasma is mainly composed of electrons and ions, and the country’s existing Tokamak devices have achieved an electron temperature of over100 million degrees C in its core plasma, and an ion temperature of 50 million C, and it is the ion that generates energy in the device.The HL-2M Tokamak will be able to achieve an ion temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, about seven times hotter than the real Sun’s ion temperature.
This meets “one of the three challenges to reach the goal of harnessing nuclear fusion.”
If it happens, the device could serve as a template for future nuclear fusion reactors,bringing the dream of unlimited clean energy one step closer to reality.