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China successfully activated its most advanced nuclear fusion experimental reactor on Friday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. This marks a great step in the Asian giant’s research to produce low-carbon energy.
The country, the world’s leading polluter, built its growth on fossil fuels and continues to create new, highly polluting coal power plants every year.
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But China is also the country in the world that invests the most in renewable energy. In particular, it carries out nuclear fusion experiments, considered by its defenders as the energy of tomorrow, since it is infinite like that of the sun, and does not produce waste or greenhouse gases.
To this end, China has the Tokamak HL-2M reactor, the country’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device, in Sichuan province (southwest).
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It is a magnetic confinement chamber that generates strong heat to melt atomic nuclei. This reactor is known by the name of “artificial sun”, due to the temperature that can exceed 150 million degrees, according to Xinhua, that is, ten times the heat produced in the very heart of the Sun.
The reactor will “provide essential technical support to China” as part of its participation in the international Iter project on experimental fusion reactors – the world’s largest nuclear fusion research project based in France, which is expected to be complete in 2025-, Chief Engineer Yang Qingway was quoted as saying by Xinhhua.
The development of nuclear fusion power is not only a way to meet energy needs, but is also important for future sustainable development …
“The development of nuclear fusion power is not only a way to solve China’s strategic energy needs, but also has great importance for the future sustainable development of energy and China’s national economy,” said the People’s Daily .
Nuclear fusion research is not new. Magnetic confinement chambers were initially conceived in the USSR. Others were built in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea.
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This nuclear fusion (whose principle is already used by the explosion of H-bombs) should not be confused with fission (division of atoms) which operates in classical nuclear power plants. The difficulty is maintaining these temperatures in a sustainable way and containing them in resistant materials.
AFP
