China switches on ‘artificial sun’ that is five times hotter than the real thing
Researchers hope nuclear fusion device could provide almost limitless clean energy
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A nuclear fusion reactor in China has set a new record for sustained high temperatures after running five times hotter than the sun for more than 17 minutes, according to state media.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), known as an “artificial sun”, reached temperatures of 70,000,000C during the experiments, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The ultimate aim of developing the artificial sun device is to deliver near-limitless clean energy by mimicking the natural reactions occurring within stars.
“The recent operation lays a solid scientific and experimental foundation towards the running of a fusion reactor,” said Gong Xianzu, a researcher at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who led the latest experiment.
The EAST project, which has already cost China more than £700bn, will run the experiment until June.
Nuclear fusion has been touted as the holy grail of clean energy production, however it remains a long way from being realised outside of a laboratory, despite decades of research into the technology.
Replicating the physics of the actual sun, nuclear fusion reactors merge atomic nuclei in order to generate massive amounts of energy that can be turned into electricity.
The process requires no fossil fuels and leaves behind no hazardous waste materials, unlike the nuclear fission process that powers commercial nuclear energy production. Physicists also claim that there is far less risk of an environmental disaster.
China’s reactor team will also provide technical support to another nuclear fusion reactor megaproject currently being constructed in Marseille, France.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) will be the world’s largest reactor once completed.
The UK is also planning to build a nuclear fusion power station as part of its “green industrial revolution”, with a shortlist of five locations for the site announced last month.
The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) project aims to produce a concept design by 2024 and deliver power to people’s homes at some point in the 2040s.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments