Successful test of ‘artificial sun’ in China, five times more powerful than real sun

China is experimenting with an ‘artificial sun’ to achieve clean energy in the future. This is called the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). This device is a fusion reactor. In a recent test, it was maintained at 70 million degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes. This machine tries to harness the power of nuclear fusion. It is called an artificial sun because the setup of the machine mimics the nuclear reactions that actually take place inside the sun. In this, gases like hydrogen and deuterium are used as fuel. This experiment can bring scientists closer to ‘unlimited clean energy’.

The machine’s reactor is being tested so that the heating system supporting it becomes more ‘warm’ and ‘durable’. It is designed and made by China itself. EAST has been used for nuclear fusion experiments since 2006, but only recently, researchers have achieved great success.

One of the South China Morning Post Report It is said that in the experiment done this time, the ‘artificial sun’ was maintained at 70 million degree Celsius temperature for 17 minutes 36 seconds. It is about five times hotter than the real Sun and its core temperature is more than 15 million degrees Celsius.

This experiment took place at the Hefei Institute of Physical Science in Anhui, China’s eastern province. Gong Xianzu, in-charge of the EAST experiment, said that ‘this experiment lays a solid scientific foundation for running the reactor.’ A New York Post report states that more than 10,000 Chinese and foreign scientific researchers were part of this $948 million (about Rs 7,060 crore) project. The experiment, which started in December last year, is expected to continue till June this year.

Song Yuntao, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics, said that five years from now, we will start building our fusion reactor. It will take 10 years. He believes that with this experiment, electricity generation can be started by the year 2040.