Limitless energy is within reach: China's "artificial sun" has set a new record.

The Chinese fusion reactor, often referred to as the "artificial Sun," has set a new record for maintaining extremely hot plasma, marking a significant advancement towards achieving virtually limitless clean fusion energy, reports Live Science.

Fusion reactors are frequently called "artificial Suns" because they generate energy in a manner similar to our star. This process occurs through the fusion of hydrogen atoms or their isotopes, resulting in a substantial release of energy. In the core of the Sun, atom fusion takes place under immense pressure and high temperatures. However, replicating such pressure on Earth is not feasible, so physicists compensate by heating the plasma to tens of millions of degrees Celsius, which is significantly higher than the temperature in the Sun's core.

In the city of Hefei, China, there is an experimental fusion reactor known as EAST, a type of tokamak. In 2023, Chinese physicists managed to maintain stable plasma in the reactor for 403 seconds, but it has now been revealed that they have surpassed this record. The stable hot plasma was maintained within the reactor for 1066 seconds. This achievement is a crucial step forward in obtaining nearly limitless clean energy, allowing humanity to move away from fossil fuels. The production of this energy does not generate greenhouse gas emissions or nuclear waste, unlike nuclear power plants.

To construct fusion power plants that will generate nearly limitless energy, several critical challenges must be addressed. Specifically, in experimental reactors like EAST, it is essential to achieve prolonged maintenance of extremely hot plasma to sustain stable nuclear fusion. Additionally, it is necessary to learn how to produce significantly more energy through nuclear fusion than is consumed during its initiation.

The EAST fusion reactor is a tokamak, meaning it is a toroidal reactor where extremely hot plasma is confined using powerful magnetic fields. Although Chinese physicists have not yet managed to produce more energy during nuclear fusion than they expended to initiate it, the record plasma retention is still a significant milestone. The plasma within the reactor must be maintained in a stable state for an extended period to enable sustained nuclear fusion.

The new record set by Chinese physicists will aid in the development of reactors that will produce fusion energy in large quantities in the future. Currently, scientists around the world cannot predict when limitless energy will be achieved, but some physicists believe it could be possible within the next few decades.

To establish a new plasma retention record, Chinese scientists upgraded the EAST fusion reactor, which enabled an increase in the strength of the magnetic fields and a rise in plasma heating temperature.