A nuclear fusion reactor in China has set a new record for sustained high temperatures after running five times hotter than the sun for more than 17 minutes, according to state media. The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), known as an “artificial sun”, reached temperatures of 70,000,000C during the experiments, the Xinhua News Agency reported. The EAST project, which has already cost China more than £700bn, will run the experiment until June.
Saw the 17 and thought post was about the 17 minutes of terror when America landed a Rover on Mars with the sly crane Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Yes well that's why descriptive thread titles are important to the smooth operation of a forum. Cryptic titles benefit only the opening poster, and at the expense of others. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Yeh OOPS To my mind, the 17+ minute reaction was the interesting point. I most likely should have included the word fusion or tokamak or...? oops sorry .............. How does one go about rewriting the thread title?
This just made a big splash on the very top of the BBC website. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60312633 Apparently it means that the next stage of the ITER project (a separate project) can likely proceed according to expectations. Anyone know what that next stage might be and when that might happen?
My understanding is ITER won't even start fusion until 2035 and after that, if all goes well, a demonstration reactor will have to be built to show that energy can be reliably got out of the thing to run it and to provide surplus power for the grid. So that starts to look as if it will be mid century at the earliest before fusion contributes to our energy needs.
Aye, they're still a long way from producing net surplus power. It's hoped ITER will be able to break even - i.e. total power consumed = total power produced - but at the moment they're only at c.10% of that, and as you say, ITER won't be up and running for another 15 years or so. Once ITER can (hopefully) demonstrate that breakeven is possible, and that with identified improvements can produce net surplus, that's when the real fun begins. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! But it's such a slow-moving technology (new versions of reactors seem to take 20+ years to plan and build, with no guarantee of success) that I wouldn't expect any commercial fusion power, even if everything works as hoped, until the latter half of the century, probably the 4th quarter (2075 or beyond).