Posted: 11/28/2018
China’s Preeminence In Science
I have little doubt that Chinese scientists could succeed in the very near future to harness nuclear fusion as a new and abundant energy source for humanity. China and its over 1 billion people will need a lot more energy than today as it becomes a fully advanced and developed economy. India will most likely catch up ...
A Tokamak Again
“The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (East) in Hefei has reached a temperature of 100 million degrees C for the first time” (Source 2; emphasis added). This temperature or higher is believed necessary for stable nuclear fusion.
Previously:
- “... setting the world record by sustaining 101.2 seconds of steady-state H-mode operation of the EAST in 2017” (Source 4) [Impressive]
- “Around the globe, they are trying to master nuclear fusion - in the United States, Japan, Korea, Brazil and European Union - but none can hold it steady for as long as the team in Anhui. Right now that's 100 seconds and it gets longer every year. Here they're already talking about goals which are 10 times as long, at temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius” (Source 5)
“China independently designed and constructed the East in 2006. The facility is 11m (36 ft) tall, with a diameter of 8m and a weight of 400 tons. The country is the first in the world to design and develop such equipment on its own.” (Source 2) [I believe, the USSR was the first to design and develop a Tokamak based reactor]
“The reactor is an improvement over China's first superconducting tokamak device, dubbed HT-7, built by the Institute of Plasma Physics in partnership with Russia in the early 1990s.” (Source 3)
I am wondering why the Chinese chose again a Tokamak torus design. It is one of the oldest designs for such reactors (invented in the USSR in the 1950s). Is this really the best design possible? How did the Chinese tweak the design?
ITER To Begin Experiments In 2025
I believe, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), proposed in 1987, has taken way too long to be planned and to be built. China is also among its seven funding and managing countries. I am glad China decided to build their own thermonuclear fusion energy facility in the meantime. The Chinese EAST was proposed in 1997 and started experiments in 2006.
It would be an irony, if the ITER is already severely outdated by the time it comes online thanks to the Chinese.
The Long Rocky History Of Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion has for decades been overhyped and overpromised. That said, perhaps this time we are finally near or on the cusp of making this abundant energy resource available to humanity.
Private Investment
I did not have the time to investigate this topic, but if my memory serves me well, than there are a number of private companies investing in nuclear fusion reactors.
Sources:
- China's 'artificial sun' achieves major breakthrough (perhaps not the most reliable source)
- Will China beat the world to nuclear fusion and clean energy? (older source from April 2018)
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