South Korea’s artificial sun has set a new world record after successfully holding the plasma at high temperature for 20 seconds with an ion temperature of more than 100 million degrees (Celsius).
On November 27, the KSTAR Research Center of the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE) announced the joint research project with Seoul National University (SNU) and Columbia University in the United States.
It managed to run plasma continuously for 20 seconds with an ion temperature higher than 100 million degrees. Sounds hawt.
The milestone is being hailed as an important step in the quest for power generation through nuclear fusion.
Director Si-Woo Yoon of the KSTAR Research Center at KFE told phys.org: “The technologies required for long operations of 100 million plasmas are key to the realization of fusion energy, and the KSTAR’s success in maintaining the high temperature plasma for 20 seconds will be a major turning point in the race to secure the technologies for the long-term high-performance plasma operation, a critical part of a commercial fusion reactor in the future. ”
Yong-Su Na, professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering who jointly conducted the research, added: “The success of the KSTAR experiment in the long operation at high temperatures by overcoming some of the disadvantages of the ITB modes brings us one step closer to the development of technologies for generating energy from nuclear fusion. “
a month agoDr. Columbia University’s Young-Seok Park who helped create the high-temperature plasma said, “We are honored to be involved in such an important achievement in KSTAR.
“The ion temperature of 100 million degrees achieved by enabling efficient nuclear plasma heating for such a long duration has demonstrated the unique capability of the superconducting KSTAR device, and will be recognized as a compelling basis for high-quality, stable fusion plasmas. “
The new goal of the KFE is to sustain the operation for 300 seconds by 2025. It stated, “The duration of 300 seconds means we are able to control the instability of fusion-based power generation.
“We continue our challenge to realize nuclear fusion energy, which is a goal of all humanity.”
KFE President Suk Jae Yoo stated, “I am so happy to announce the new launch of the KFE as an independent research organization of Korea. The KFE will continue its tradition of challenging research to achieve the goal of humanity: the realization. of fusion. energy. “