Scientists in South Korea have announced a new world record for the length of time they maintained temperatures of up to 100 million degrees Celsius – seven times hotter than the core of the sun – during a nuclear fusion experiment.
Scientists say that this experiment represents an important step for the future of energy technology, especially clean energy.
The tokamak reactor is the most common way to access fusion energy, where hydrogen variables are heated to very high temperatures to form plasma.
CNN quoted the director of the KSTAR Research Center at the Korea Fusion Energy Institute, Si Woo-yeon, as saying, “High temperature and high-density plasma, in which reactions can occur for long periods, are vital for the future of nuclear fusion reactors.”
“Maintaining these high temperatures was not easy to prove due to the unstable nature of high-temperature plasma, which is why this last number is so important,” Wu Yun added.
Revolutionary experience
The reactor, called the “Artificial Sun,” was able to maintain plasma at a temperature of 100 million degrees for 48 seconds during tests between December 2023 and February 2024, surpassing the previous record of 30 seconds set in 2021.
Scientists at the Korea Fusion Energy Institute reported that they were able to extend the time by modifying the process, including using tungsten instead of carbon in “converters”, which extract heat and impurities resulting from the fusion reaction.
According to the institute, the ultimate goal is for the reactor to be able to maintain plasma temperatures at 100 million degrees for 300 seconds by 2026, a “critical point” to be able to scale up fusion operations.
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2024-04-02 01:51:22
