Scientists in South Korea have announced a new world record for the length of time they sustained temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius — seven times hotter than the sun’s core — during a nuclear fusion experiment, according to CNN.
Nuclear fusion aims to replicate the energy-producing reaction of the sun and stars by fusing atoms, releasing immense energy. Known as the “holy grail” of clean energy solutions, fusion offers limitless energy without carbon pollution.
The typical approach to fusion energy utilizes a tokamak reactor, resembling a donut, to heat hydrogen variants to extreme temperatures, forming plasma.
Si-Woo Yoon, director of the KSTAR Research Center at the Korean Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE), emphasized the vital importance of high temperature and density plasmas for future fusion reactors. Sustaining these temperatures has proven challenging due to plasma’s instability, highlighting the significance of the recent achievement.
KFE’s fusion research device, named “artificial sun” or KSTAR, maintained plasma at 100 million degrees for 48 seconds during tests from December 2023 to February 2024, exceeding the prior 30-second record from 2021.
Scientists at KFE prolonged the duration by modifying the process, like utilizing tungsten instead of carbon in the diverters to extract heat and impurities from the fusion reaction.
Si-Woo Yoon emphasized the goal for KSTAR to sustain plasma at 100 million degrees for 300 seconds by 2026, a critical milestone for scaling up fusion operations.
The work of scientists in South Korea will contribute to the development of ITER, the world’s largest tokamak in southern France. ITER aims to demonstrate fusion feasibility
“KSTAR’s work will be of great help to secure the predicted performance in ITER operation in time and to advance the commercialization of fusion energy,” Si-Woo Yoon said.
In 2022, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in the US achieved a historic milestone: a nuclear fusion reaction generating more energy than consumed.
This February, scientists near Oxford, UK, broke another record by producing 69 megajoules of fusion energy for five seconds, sufficient to power approximately 12,000 homes for the same duration.
Commercializing nuclear fusion remains a distant goal as scientists tackle complex engineering and scientific challenges.
According to Aneeqa Khan, a research fellow in nuclear fusion at the University of Manchester, fusion isn’t presently capable of addressing the climate crisis. However, she believes that with ongoing progress, fusion could potentially contribute to a green energy mix later in the century.
Despite these advancements, commercializing nuclear fusion faces significant engineering and scientific challenges.
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