So far, Chinese scientists have achieved a reaction running at a slightly cooler 70 million degrees celsius for more than 17 minutes.
Randy Montoya’s famous image captures the Z machine’s
release, for just 100 nanoseconds, of roughly 200 trillion watts of x-ray
energy. |
China aspires to produce unlimited clean energy through
nuclear fusion by 2028.
The "world's largest" pulsed-power plant will be
built in Chengdu, Sichuan province, according to Professor Peng Xianjue of the
Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, The Independent reported on Wednesday.
"Fusion ignition is the jewel in the crown of science
and technology in today's world," said Professor Peng.
"Being the world's first to achieve energy-scale fusion
release will lay the most important milestone in the road to fusion energy for
human beings."
The professor, China's leading nuclear weapons scientist,
announced this during an online meeting organized by a Beijing-based think
tank, Techxcope, last week, reported Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post
(SCMP).
Peng, 81, has served as a key adviser to China's nuclear
weapons program and created some of the country's most sophisticated small
nuclear warheads.
Nuclear fusion may be feasible in the future
Due to distortions that occur within the plasma that cause it to collapse, they are primarily utilized to create atomic weapons and were only recently thought to be a potential path to nuclear fusion energy.
A full-scale nuclear fusion plant using this technique may
be feasible in the future, according to new methods for stabilizing the plasma,
such as the sheared axial flow process.
However, according to Professor Peng, the new plant's fusion
process will first be employed to introduce particles into uranium, which will
then fuel a fission reactor.
Last week, a nuclear fusion reactor developed by researchers
at the Seoul National University (SNU) in South Korea reached temperatures in
excess of 100 million degrees Celsius for 30 seconds, taking a step closer to
nuclear fusion energy.
Nuclear fusion energy and its challenges
Nuclear fusion is the "holy grail" of energy
sources because it mimics the Sun's natural processes, resulting in massive
amounts of energy produced when hydrogen atoms collide to form helium atoms.
It is a process that powers the Sun and other stars. And its
energy is a preferred alternative renewable energy source because there is no
greenhouse gas emission.
Beginning as an investigation into how stars propelled
themselves, research into nuclear fusion energy was first conducted in the
middle of the 20th century. But, the initial emphasis was on harnessing the
power for weapons and rockets, and energy harnessing was just recently added.
However, the challenges of using such strong energy are
numerous. The intense and particular circumstances that must exist for nuclear
fusion to occur are challenging to mimic on Earth.
The fuel must be heated in conditions similar to the Sun:
extremely high temperatures, tremendous pressures, and prolonged heating. There
are also worries that the reaction chambers will deteriorate over time due to
the neutrons released during the reaction.
Additionally, the size and cost of current reactor chambers
make it impractical to produce electricity for everyday customers.
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