According to Science Alert, South Korea's KSTAR fusion reactor can withstand temperatures of up to 100 million degrees Celsius and maintain it for nearly 50 seconds. The Korean 'artificial sun' sets a new record, and is a huge leap from the reactor's achievement of approximately 20 seconds in 2021.
At 100 million degrees Celsius, the heavy hydrogen isotopes in the plasma are forced to fuse together, releasing energy similar to the Sun's core. The reactor can generate clean, virtually limitless energy if maintained in this state.
However, for nuclear fusion reactions in general, the major challenge is to prevent plasma escape by using magnetic fields.
To overcome the problem, KSTAR uses a new diverter made of tungsten, a material that has a very high melting point, but does not absorb plasma.
The new diverters were completed in 2023. The official use of the new diverters extended the reactor's operating time by 48 seconds.
Researchers from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory also found a way to stabilize weaknesses at the edge of the plasma caused by tiny defects in the magnetic coils, allowing the reactor to achieve a second milestone: containing plasma in high isolation mode — or “H mode” — for 102 seconds. This had been limited to just a few seconds in previous attempts.
According to researchers, South Korea's 'artificial sun' promises to bring more potential for the production of clean energy sources of the future.
The goal of the Korean researchers is to achieve 300 seconds of plasma operation with temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius by the end of 2026. However, this is still a few minutes shorter than China's Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak ( EAST ) reactor, which can generate and maintain plasma for nearly 7 minutes, as of April 2023.
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