China’s Nuclear ‘Sun’ Powered Up

C: John Towner - Unsplash

China has ‘switched on’ its very own ‘nuclear sun’.

Officially named the HL-2M Tokamak, China’s most advanced, and at present biggest nuclear reactor, it came online for the first time late last week.

Now being labelled an ‘artificial sun, Beijing is hoping the tech behind the groundbreaking fusion research running the facility will one day lead to a new, clean and ultimately limitless source of energy.

C: David Monje – Unsplash

Employing a high tech magnetic field that shapes plasma, the reactor is said to reach temperatures ten times hotter than the center of our sun – in excess of 150 million degrees Celsius.

“The development of nuclear fusion energy is not only a way to solve China’s strategic energy needs, but also has great significance for the future sustainable development of China’s energy and national economy,” China’s People’s Daily said of the site in Sichuan in the south west of the country.

It is understood scientists across China had worked on the concept of nuclear fusion for over a decade before the reactor came online with some reports claiming smaller versions of the reactor had been planned for around 15 years.

As an aside, China is, it is reported by Chinese media, planning to link up with a French nuclear fusion project known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor post-2025, when complete.

Until then, the concept of fusion – the bringing together of atomic nuclei, in the process generating huge amounts of energy, will remain the polar ‘opposite‘ to current nuclear technology in which atoms are split to release power.

The latter, whilst capable of the generation of large amounts of energy, pales in comparison to the basics and potential of nuclear fusion.

Mark Buckton

Mark is a journalism vet of 20 years with most of those years spent in Tokyo, Japan, as a columnist for The Japan Times and numerous other publications. His work has appeared on CNN, in the BBC, NPR, and in several dozen other media forms and publications across five continents.