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HEFEI, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese
scientists have set a new world record of achieving a plasma temperature
of 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds in the latest experiment
on Friday, a key step toward the test running of a fusion reactor. The
breakthrough was announced by Gong Xianzu, a researcher at the
Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP),
who is in charge of the experiment conducted in Hefei, capital of east
China's Anhui Province. The
experiment at the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST),
or the "Chinese artificial sun," also realized a plasma temperature of
160 million degrees Celsius, lasting for 20 seconds. The
ultimate goal of EAST, located at ASIPP in Hefei, is to create nuclear
fusion like the Sun, using deuterium abound in the sea to provide a
steady stream of clean energy. It is
estimated that the deuterium in one liter of seawater can produce,
through fusion reaction, the amount of energy equivalent to 300 liters
of gasoline. Around 300 scientists
and engineers mobilized to support the operation of the doughnut-shaped
experiment facility, which includes a vacuum system, RF wave system,
laser scattering system, and microwave system. Preparation and upgrading
work for the experiment started about a year ago, the institute said. "It's
a huge achievement in China's physics and engineering fields. The
experiment's success lays the foundation for China to build its own
nuclear fusion energy station," said Song Yuntao, director of ASIPP. In
November 2018, EAST generated an electron temperature of 100 million
degrees Celsius in its core plasma, nearly seven times the temperature
of the Sun's interior. Last year, EAST achieved a plasma temperature of
100 million degrees Celsius lasting for 20 seconds. As
opposed to fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, which are
in danger of being exhausted and pose a threat to the environment, raw
materials required for the "artificial sun" are almost unlimited on
earth. Therefore, fusion energy is considered the ideal "ultimate
energy" with the potential to help China realize carbon neutrality. Fusion
energy, one of the greatest frontiers of today's physics, requires not
only top scientific research ability but also massive experimental
instruments. Since its operation in
2006, the Chinese-designed and -developed EAST has been an open test
platform for Chinese and international scientists to conduct
fusion-related experiments. Enditem
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