Breakthrough Achievement: Artificial Sun Sustains 100 Million Degrees for Groundbreaking Duration
Witness the remarkable milestone achieved by the Korean Institute of Fusion Energy as they maintain temperatures exceeding the sun's core for an unprecedented period, marking a significant leap in nuclear fusion technology.
Scientists in South Korea have achieved a new world record by maintaining temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius for an extended period. This is seven times hotter than the sun's core and marks a significant advancement in nuclear fusion technology.
Nuclear fusion aims to reproduce the same reaction that powers the sun and other stars. By combining two atoms, it creates a massive amount of energy. Often hailed as the ultimate solution for clean energy, fusion has the potential to offer unlimited energy without emitting harmful carbon dioxide. However, mastering this process on Earth is a complex challenge.
The main method for producing fusion energy is through a donut-shaped reactor known as a tokamak. Inside this reactor, hydrogen isotopes are heated to extremely high temperatures to form a plasma.
Si-Woo Yoon, director of the KSTAR Research Center at the Korean Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE), emphasized the importance of high temperature and high density plasmas. These conditions are necessary for reactions to take place over extended periods in nuclear fusion reactors, as demonstrated by the recent record achieved by KFE.
Sustaining these extreme temperatures has been difficult to show because the high temperature plasma is unstable. This recent record is therefore very important.
The inside of the JET tokamak, which conducted major nuclear fusion experiments in the UK.
The inside of the JET tokamak, which conducted major nuclear fusion experiments in the UK.
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
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KFE's fusion research device, known as KSTAR, achieved a major milestone by maintaining plasma at temperatures of 100 million degrees for a record-breaking 48 seconds. This surpasses the previous record of 30 seconds set in 2021.
According to KFE scientists, they were able to prolong the plasma sustainment by making adjustments to the process. One key change was using tungsten instead of carbon in the "diverters," which are responsible for extracting heat and impurities generated during the fusion reaction.
The ultimate goal for KSTAR is to maintain plasma temperatures of 100 million degrees for 300 seconds by 2026, which is crucial for advancing fusion operations, according to Si-Woo Yoon.
The work being done by scientists in South Korea will contribute to the progress of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in southern France, the largest tokamak in the world designed to demonstrate the potential of fusion energy.
KSTAR's work is expected to play a crucial role in ensuring that ITER operates as expected and on schedule. This will help in advancing the commercialization of fusion energy, as stated by Si-Woo Yoon.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 18, 2024. Altman has said nuclear fusion is the answer to meet AI's enormous appetite for electricity.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 18, 2024, that nuclear fusion is the solution to satisfy AI's high demand for electricity. A photo of Altman at the event is shown below.
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This exciting news is just the latest in a series of advancements in nuclear fusion technology. Back in 2022, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, part of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US, achieved a major milestone. They successfully conducted a nuclear fusion reaction that generated more energy than was required to run the experiment.
This February, scientists in Oxford, England made a groundbreaking announcement. They successfully generated a record amount of energy in a fusion reaction, producing 69 megajoules for five seconds. This is equivalent to powering around 12,000 homes for the same duration.
Despite this achievement, the road to commercializing nuclear fusion is still a challenging one. Scientists are facing complex engineering and scientific obstacles that need to be overcome before this technology can be widely implemented.
Nuclear fusion is currently not ready to assist with the climate crisis, according to Aneeqa Khan, a research fellow in nuclear fusion at the University of Manchester in the UK.
However, Khan mentioned that if advancements in fusion technology persist, it could eventually play a role in a sustainable energy mix by the latter half of the century.
CNN’s Angela Dewan contributed to this report.
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