China Achieves Success in Artificial Sun Experiment at 120 Million °C

Photo by New Atlas

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] China has succeeded in an experiment using nuclear fusion energy to generate heat of 120 million℃ with an "artificial sun."

According to state media China Central Television (CCTV) on the 1st, the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science under the Chinese Academy of Sciences succeeded in maintaining a temperature of 120 million℃ at an ultra-high temperature for 101 seconds using the EAST nuclear fusion reactor.

The institute also added that it succeeded in an experiment maintaining 160 million℃ for 20 seconds.

This surpasses the world record of maintaining 100 million℃ for 20 seconds, achieved by a Korean research team in November last year.

Nuclear fusion power is a technology that obtains energy by utilizing the principle of the sun emitting light and heat. Hydrogen gas is turned into ultra-high temperature plasma above 100 million℃, and the enormous energy released during the fusion of deuterium and tritium into helium is used.

Nuclear fusion energy is called the "dream energy" because hydrogen, the raw material, is easily obtainable and it does not produce radiation, but to sustain nuclear fusion reactions, an ultra-high temperature state above 100 million℃ must be maintained.

The equipment that artificially creates the ultra-high temperature plasma where such nuclear fusion reactions can occur is called a nuclear fusion reactor. The key to the nuclear fusion reactor, known as the artificial sun, is to realize plasma reaching an ideal 150 million℃ for nuclear fusion and to maintain it stably.

China has set a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, plans to produce a prototype industrial nuclear fusion reactor by 2035, and aims to begin large-scale commercial use of the artificial sun by 2050.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.