Humans are one step closer to accessing unlimited energy. The Korea Institute of Fusion Energy's fusion reactor has set a new record by surviving a temperature of one million degrees Celsius, and maintaining the superheated plasma for 30 seconds, beating the previous record of 10 seconds.
The tokamak reactor used for the record was the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR), also known as South Korea's artificial sun.
South Korea's KSTAR breaks nuclear fusion world record
This nuclear fusion uses the same reaction process that the Sun and other stars use to produce an infinite amount of energy.
On Earth, scientists are developing this process through nuclear fusion reactors, called tokamaks. This process uses powerful magnets to control and stabilize plasma that burns at temperatures of millions of degrees.
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Quoted from Science Alert, the process allows atoms to form heavier nuclei. In theory, this would release a large amount of sustained energy. Ultimately, this will help the world reduce dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the worst impacts of climate change.
Construction on the KSTAR device was completed in 2007, and since then, this nuclear fusion reactor has made an important step towards providing clean energy. Last December, KSTAR set a world record by maintaining plasma at 100 million degrees Celsius for 20 seconds. Now, the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy beat its own record by staying 10 more seconds longer to 30 seconds.
Although this figure is still far from what the Chinese Academy of Sciences set, which is 101 seconds, it is still an important milestone on the road to clean energy that can change the way people empower people.
Harvesting clean energy from nuclear fusion
The team at the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy said the record was achieved thanks to the optimization of the tokamak heating system and the condition of the magnetic field inside the engine. Next, they aim to beat their own record several times over by 2026, by holding on to the plasma for 300 seconds. To achieve this, they had to upgrade their reactors to allow for massive temperature control for longer periods of time.
A series of advances in nuclear fusion technology paved the way for unlimited sustainable energy. In May this year, for example, the UK Atomic Authority announced that they had developed the world's first tokamak exhaust system, which would greatly help reduce the temperature in devices, and allow them to run longer.
A startup called Commonwealth Fusion Systems, backed by Bill Gates and MIT, recently revealed the results of successful tests on an extremely strong and energy-efficient magnet for a tokamak fusion experiment called SPARC.
Although we see rapid advances in nuclear fusion technology, the road to clean energy from nuclear fusion is still long, and may not be achieved this decade. Currently, the energy required to power a tokamak device far exceeds the power generated by the engine. Clean energy will be achieved when the electricity generated by nuclear fusion exceeds the energy put into this artificial Sun on Earth.