China has created a replica of the sun using nuclear technology sounds absurd doesn't it but it's true however this development raises concerns about whether China can handle the consequences of such a feat and if there is a possibility of things going wrong the Chinese have always been a Powerhouse of innovation but they have dramatically proven their technological abilities by launching their own artificial sun into the sky join us as we delve deeper into the groundbreaking invention of the Chinese Sun at the center of our sun an unending Atomic Inferno exists wherein its immense Mass creates unmatched gravitational force and prodigious pressure on its core as a result of this pressure two hydrogen Isotopes are fused together resulting in an Indescribable reaction that produces a vast amount of light and heat two crucial elements for life on Earth while simultaneously releasing helium Fusion is considered the Holy Grail of energy it does not generate any radioactive waste the hydrogen Isotopes necessary for Fusion can be obtained easily from heavy water and irradiated lithium scientists globally view fusion as an infinite eco-friendly energy source for the future due to its incapability to produce greenhouse gases the emergence of fusion technology holds the potential to transform our current world by rendering fossil fuels irrelevant and cutting down energy expenses this could heavily impact Nations whose primary source of income is the exportation of petroleum products or liquid natural gas as Fusion poses a massive challenge to their existing systems there's a race to create an artificial sun through nuclear fusion which could provide a limitless source of clean energy for the future governments and strategic investors are pouring resources into fusion and scientists are working hard to realize an energy output higher than its input this war for power is primarily between the United States China and Russia the fusion process is highly sought after as a source of energy it involves combining Atomic nuclei to generate a gigantic amount of energy unlike the fission method used in nuclear power plants and atomic weapons which involves breaking them apart however achieving fusion is a challenging and costly Endeavor with the international thermonuclear experimental reactors total cost estimated at 22.5 billion dollars the process of fusion is remarkably arduous while it occurs naturally within the sun achieving stable Fusion is a tremendous challenge in theory it may seem simple Collide some atoms together and harness the energy but creating an artificial sun is enormously complex in practice firstly the sun size is approximately 1.3 million times greater than Earth's making it impossible to replicate its gravitational forces on our planet the fusion process within the sun's core also occurs in a superheated stellar oven that burns at a scorching 15 million degrees Celsius scientists face numerous challenges in their pursuit of Fusion Energy they not only need to create the necessary pressure and heat to fuse hydrogen but also keep it contained using magnetic fields which is no easy task researchers must conduct significant experimentation and continuous trial and error to achieve Fusion under high pressure and extreme heat conditions.
However containing turbulent molten plasma is just one part of the challenge the process requires a substantial amount of energy input scientists aim to achieve an energy output more ample than the input to make fusion a viable Commercial Energy Source but since Earth's gravity is much weaker than the sun's Fusion reactors require even more heat to compensate for the lack of pressure resulting in higher energy consumption in fact to attain Fusion on Earth researchers need to raise temperatures to several hundred million degrees Celsius which necessitates more robust magnetic containment and even more energy input the competition for Fusion technology is at an all-time high with the United States China and Russia leading the pack for Many Nations this represents a critical matter of National Security and the development of fusion technology is highly classified the U.S team led by Commonwealth Fusion systems a spin-off of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology aims to achieve a net energy gain by 2025 demonstrating their unwavering commitment to success China a relative newcomer to the race is a formidable rival treating energy development with the utmost importance and already competing with Russia in the field of conventional nuclear energy in fact on December 4th 2020 China achieved a momentous Milestone by activating its artificial sun using a russian-designed reactor that has been the subject of constant Improvement the experimental Advanced superconducting Tokamak East also known as the artificial sun is being developed and operated in a research facility in an huay province's Jefe city in China the Project's budget is reported to be 300 million Chinese yen which is around U.S 37 million dollars despite what its name May imply East is not a luminous orb levitating in the sky nor is it an object seen in fabricated videos on Twitter instead it is a donut-shaped confinement chamber that utilizes a great deal of magnetic field to contain superheated Plasma in the early 1990s. The Institute of plasma physics in collaboration with Russia built China's first superconducting Tokamak device ht7 it was followed by the East project which was proposed in 1996 and approved in 1998. a schedule from 2003 indicated that site facilities and buildings were to be constructed by that year with Tokamak assembly taking place from 2003 to 2005. construction was finished in March 2006.
The first plasma was achieved on September 28 2006. with an initial test lasting almost three seconds and producing an electric current of 200 kilo amperes by January 2007 the reactor created a plasma that lasted nearly five seconds and generated an electric current of 500 kilo amperes on November 7 2010 East accomplished its first H mode plasma by lhw alone in May 2011 East became the first Tokamak to successfully maintain H mode plasma for more than 30 seconds at a temperature of approximately 50 million Kelvin during a ribbon-cutting ceremony the East auxiliary heating system project entered phase two on November 29 2011.
After a 20-month long upgrade break starting in September 2012 East was ready for experiments in May 2014. by May 2015 East reported one Mega ampere current and H mode for 6.4 seconds in Feb February 2016 a plasma pulse was maintained for a record 102 seconds at around 50 million degrees Celsius with a plasma current of 400 kilo ampere on November 2nd 2016 East became the first Tokamak to successfully sustain H mode plasma for over a minute at around 50 million degrees Celsius on July 3 2017 for over 100 seconds East reached a landmark of 100 million degrees Celsius electron temperature on November 12 2018.
on May 2021 it approached another stepping stone of 120 million degrees Celsius electron temperature for 101 seconds on December 30 2021 East achieved a new world record for the operation of the Tokamak experimental device with a long pulse High parameter plasma operation of 10 56 seconds finally on April 12 2023 East achieved the world's first steady state H mode plasma for 403 seconds while China is working with the international thermonuclear experimental reactor in collaboration with 35 other nations the Quest for a commercially viable Fusion reactor remains a highly individualized Endeavor for China with the competition being more intense than ever China has already conducted test runs on its Fusion reactor while the international thermonuclear experimental reactor plans to activate its own artificial sun in 2025. the goal is to achieve net Power by 2035 which is almost a decade later than the estimated deadline set by MIT with the successful activation of its nuclear fusion reactor China has created a history in nuclear power research to last an eternity according to people's daily nuclear fusion energy development is vital for China's strategic energy needs and the sustainable development of its energy and National economy the hl2m Tokamak reactor China's most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device uses a strong magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can potentially unlock a more potent clean energy source the reactor can allegedly reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius approximately 10 times hotter than the sun's core the reactor is located in southwestern Sichuan Province and is often called an artificial sun due to its colossal heat and power since 2006 Chinese scientists have been developing miniature nuclear fusion reactors which they intend to utilize in conjunction with the international thermonuclear experimental reactor project this project in France is the world's largest nuclear fusion research initiative and is slated for completion in 2025 the East Tokamak reactor has broken multiple world records for plasma duration and temperature before East the Tor Supra reactor in France held the record for the most prolonged plasma duration at 6.5 minutes in 2003 South Korea's k-star reactor set a record in 26 16 for maintaining 50 million degrees Celsius for 70 seconds however East surpassed Stars record in 2021 by sustaining around 119 million degrees Celsius for 102 seconds in May 2021 East also set a record by running for 101 seconds at an unprecedented 120 million degrees Celsius for comparison the sun's core is only around 15 million degrees Celsius Fusion technology can potentially revolutionize the energy industry by making fossil fuels obsolete while reducing energy costs this Innovation will likely pose a mighty challenge for countries whose primary exports are petroleum products or liquid natural gas nevertheless fossil fuels will only partially be replaced given their widespread use in powering engines worldwide Fusion technology also holds great promise for space travel with NASA reporting some success in producing Fusion on a small scale lattice confinement Fusion a phenomenon that occurs in the narrow spaces between atoms has allowed NASA to achieve nuclear fusion on a small scale deuterium a common nuclear fuel is trapped within a solid Metal's empty space during this process this creates an ideal environment where atoms can reach the necessary energy levels for Fusion without being either supercooled or superheated the term lattice confinement may seem complicated but it is simply a mechanism scientists use to condense and control the energy produced by Fusion reactions in contrast tokamax and stellarators rely on magnetic confinement to achieve the same goal magnetic Fusion reactions utilize intense heat to counteract natural Atomic forces and maintain plasma confinement another method inertial confinement involves compressing fuel to high levels for a brief moment allowing Fusion to occur during a brief moment of time fuel is highly compressed to enable Fusion as per NASA's explanation the novel technique involves generating conditions within a metal lattice capable of supporting Fusion reactions while maintaining ambient temperature although the metal lattice which contains deuterium fuel may seem to be at room temperature initially the method induces an energetic setting within the lattice that enables atoms to attain kinetic energies equivalent to those required for Fusion reactions the fuel is denser in the new method which triggers the reaction a metal like erbium is filled with deuterium atoms making the fuel a billion times denser than in magnetic confinement Tokamak Fusion reactors a neutron source is used to accelerate the deuterons and when they collide with another deuteron it causes DD Fusion reactions when atoms are closely packed in the atomic lattice of another element the energy required for Fusion reduces greatly the lattice assists in filtering the particles that pass through and draws the suitable kinds even closer to each other however there is a large gap between the energy rates of individual atoms that resemble Fusion and the practical application of nuclear fusion on a commercial scale.
NASA views this as a critical first stride and an alternative to the global Monumental Tokamak and stellarator projects e even the most miniature magnetic confinement Fusion reactors necessitate Sun hot Fusion temperatures posing logistical challenges there are scenarios where such reactors are not viable even after being practically scalable researchers are exploring various reactor types but a method that eliminates the need to heat and maintain millions of degrees would be much simpler it could be suitable for use cases where magnetic Fusion reactors are not feasible to achieve this scientists will have to increase the rate of atomic reactions exponentially but they have several strategies in mind for doing so in a recent unfolding of events a new technology has been unveiled in nuclear research called stellarators nuclear fusion could be propelled forward with the help of a twisted reactor that is prepared to move out of the laboratory and become a reality Fusion reactors can be classified into three groups based on how they contain the super hot plasma needed for Fusion gravitational reactors like stars cannot be recreated on Earth inertial reactors use lasers to contain the fusion reaction for a short time magnetic confinement Fusion which uses superconducting magnets to contain the plasma is the most promising tokamax and stellarators are two types of magnetic confinement Fusion the magnets are critical to keeping the plasma from touching other materials in the reactor as no known material can withstand the required temperatures for Fusion although tokamax are considered the leading concept for commercial Fusion stellarators have some advantages over their popular competitor despite being an underdog type 1 energy a fusion company that combines expertise from the Max Planck Institute for plasma physics and MIT has received 29 million dollars to bring stellarator technology out of the lab and into reality Carmichael Roberts from the bill gates-backed breakthrough energy Ventures believes that Fusion is the ultimate energy source its successful commercialization will be a massive leap towards achieving clean and abundant energy for everyone advances in stellarator science provide a promising path to practical Fusion on the grid in in the coming decades stellarators are similar to tokamax but do not use a plasma-based current instead they use a series of twisting superconducting magnets to control the plasma although tokamax are easier to build and there are six times more reactors than stellarators according to the international atomic energy agency stellarators like the wendelstein 7x in Germany are better at containing plasma whereas tokamax excel at keeping plasma hot besides NASA various private companies such as Princeton Satellite Systems helicity space and Pulsar Fusion are investing in developing fusion-based propulsion systems as the race to harness the potential of Fusion Energy nears its conclusion there is growing interest from corporate entities the executive director of the fusion industry Association Andrew Holland estimates that more than 1.5 billion dollars has already been invested in private Fusion Energy startups and huge government-sponsored efforts the support for Fusion technology extends to key figures such as Jeff Bezos Peter Thiel and Bill Gates while strategic investors such as legal and general and traditional fossil fuel energy companies like equinor eni and Chevron are also showing a lot of interest Fusion technology is poised to usher in a new era in Humanity's quest for energy making this a pivotal moment for Our Generation thanks for watching another episode of Voyager while you are still here make sure to click the video on your screen for more quality content.
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