Nuclear fusion: New record set at Chinese reactor EAST
A new record for plasma confinement time and temperature has been set at the EAST fusion research reactor. ITER should also benefit from this.
Chinese fusion research reactor EAST: decisive step on the way to a functional fusion reactor
(Image: HFIPS)
A new record in nuclear fusion research has been set in China: The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) fusion reactor has succeeded in maintaining a plasma with a temperature of over 100 million degrees Celsius for just under 18 minutes.
Plasma operation was maintained for 1,066 seconds, reports the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The plasma reached a temperature of around 104 million degrees.
Temperature and confinement time are two important factors for the use of nuclear fusion to generate electricity. A third is the plasma density. The Academy of Sciences did not provide any information on this.
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Operation must be stable for thousands of seconds
"A fusion device must achieve stable operation with high efficiency for thousands of seconds to enable self-sustaining plasma circulation, which is essential for continuous power generation in future fusion power plants," said Song Yuntao, Director of the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP). The record that has now been set is a decisive step on the way to a functional fusion reactor.
EAST is an experimental fusion reactor in Hefei in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui. Scientists there have been working on the implementation of nuclear fusion, in which nuclei of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium (D) and tritium (T) are fused, since 2006.
Very high temperatures of over 100 million degrees Celsius are required to overcome the repulsion of the nuclei. The conditions are generated in a ring-shaped reactor chamber, the tokamak, in which the plasma is held in a magnetic field. When ions collide in the plasma, they do not repel each other but fuse. This releases a neutron and a lot of energy.
EAST has already set records in the past
Several records have already been set at EAST: At the end of 2021, a plasma was maintained at a temperature of 70 million degrees Celsius for 1,056 seconds. In 2023, a plasma with a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius was kept stable for 403 seconds.
The research reactor International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is also set to benefit from the knowledge gained at EAST. 35 nations, including China, are involved in the project in Cadarache in southern France.
(wpl)
