On 4th January, 2022, a Chinese fusion reactor set a new record for being able to sustain temperatures five time hotter than the temperature of the Sun, for approximately 20 minutes.
The nuclear fusion reactor, which is now being called “Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak” commonly called and known as (EAST), reportedly reached temperatures of 70,000,0000 degree Celsius in the midst of experiments. The reactor aims to utilize the power of nuclear fusions by imitating the nuclear reactions which take place inside the sun, bringing scientists closer to “unlimited clean energy”.
By boiling hydrogen isotopes into plasma, the reactor reaches great temperatures, as the fusion of these elements produces large amounts of heat energy. Scientists now have the challenge of sustaining and containing these large amounts of energies for a longer period of time, thereby making limitless clean energy accessible.
Nuclear fusion has been deemed as the holy grail of clean energy production, as it does not require any fossil fuels, no wastage and carries a far less risk of an environmental disaster.
This experiment was conducted at the Hefei Institute of Physical Science located at Anhui, China. The experiments started in early December and are expected to be continued till June.
