Posted on 12/04/2020 11:00:31 AM PST by Red Badger
Beijing has successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time, China’s People’s Daily reported on Friday. It’s designed to be a clean energy source, similar to the real Sun.
Made to replicate the natural reactions that occur in the sun using hydrogen and deuterium gases as fuels, the HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China's largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device.
It is located in southwestern Sichuan province and was completed late last year. The reactor is often called an "artificial sun" due to the enormous heat and power it produces.
Men work inside a HL-2M Tokamak nuclear fusion reactor, dubbed as the "artificial sun," under construction in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. Picture taken June 5, 2019 © Reuters / Liu Haiyun
The HL-2M Tokamak uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius, approximately ten times hotter than the core of the Sun.
“The development of nuclear fusion energy is not only a way to solve China’s strategic energy needs, but also has great significance for the future sustainable development of China's energy and national economy,” the People’s Daily reported.
The project is part of China’s involvement with the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), based in France.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), a nuclear fusion reactor dubbed as "artificial sun," in Hefei, Anhui province, China November 14, 2018 © Reuters
The ITER is the world’s largest nuclear fusion project with a price tag of about €20 billion ($24 billion). It involves 35 countries and is expected to be completed in 2025.
Chinese scientists have been working on developing smaller versions of the nuclear fusion reactor, including the HL-2M Tokamak, since 2006.
A technician works on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), a nuclear fusion reactor dubbed as "artificial sun", in Hefei, Anhui province, China. Picture taken November 14, 2018 © Reuters
Fusion is considered the Holy Grail of energy and is what powers the Sun, but achieving fusion is both extremely difficult and prohibitively expensive.
By harnessing the power produced through nuclear fusion it is possible to tap into almost limitless clean energy. Researchers around the world have been trying to attain that goal for decades. The main issue has been finding an affordable way to contain piping hot plasma in one space and keeping it stable enough for fusion to occur.
My first thought too...
Can you explain to me how a Tokamak device might melt through the Earth or through the device itself?
D-T fusion releases a 14.7 MeV neutron. Now what you do with that neutron, there’s the rub.
How did you resolve the First Wall problem?
Not sure where the apparatus in the first picture fits in the system, but I would be concerned about the rivets and that shell looks pretty thin. Almost as if the used the aluminum skin of old airplanes.
The other components look like stainless steel and are very thick. However the melting point of steel is considerably less than 100 million degrees...
Maybe if this was placed on the bottom of the ocean, but I’m concerned that this thig is going to blow before they get it to full power.
We were working the Tokamak at Oak Ridge in the 80s.
And this is how the world ends...
Based on new reports our tire dust is getting into the Puget Sound killing the salmon and steelhead, and all of this time I thought that China’s garbage, Japan’s dead nukes and ocean drift nets were the cause of all of this.
If Biden gets in and his EPA, then life as we know it will soon cease to exist as they start taking away all of the stuff that we have come to rely on to survive and advance our society.
Yes, but do make a nice counterfeit Airstream trailer from the project photos.
OK. Interesting. This is why I love FR - so many users with a wide expanse of knowledge. I learn something new everyday here!
All Fusion Matters!
Is Siberia suddenly going to become a warm place in the near future. Soon to be the Arc Tic Boom Ocean.
I wasn't "designing", I was evaluating "current" methods.
It’s only 30 years away..........forever..............
Where does it come out on the opposite side of the planet?
Here Comes the Sun.
What could go wrong? Joe Biden could take office and even worse, he could step down afterwards and Kommie Harris takes over. When that happens get ready to take Madarin lessons.
If something goes wrong you breach the Three Gorges Dam. There is enough water behind it to cool things down.
Unfortunately the Three Gorges Dam is downstream from this location so breaching it would not get water to the site. Oh, well.
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