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SEOUL, KOMPAS.TV – The Artificial Sun of South Korea managed to set a world record by keeping the plasma at high temperature for 20 seconds.
This superconducting or artificial solar fusion device was developed by Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) with a joint study by Seoul National University and Columbia University in the United States.
This 20-second time broke the operating record KSTAR set last year, which was 8 seconds.
With this duration, this South Korean-made sun managed to burn longer than the Chinese-made sun that managed to light up in early December.
Also read: China has successfully turned on the artificial sun, a sophisticated nuclear fusion reactor for the first time
According to a report from Kompas.com, in 2018 KSTAR’s artificial sun reached a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius for the first time, but it could only last 1.5 seconds.
Si Woo Yoon, Director of the KSTAR Research Center, explained that the technology required for the long-term operation of 100 million plasma is the key to the realization of fusion energy.
“And KSTAR’s success in maintaining high-temperature plasma for 20 seconds will be a critical turning point in the experimental operation of high-throughput plasma, a critical component of future commercial nuclear fusion reactors,” he explained.
The ultimate goal of the sun created by KSTAR is expected to be to be able to successfully perform continuous plasma operations for 300 seconds with ion temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius.
Nuclear fusion power has long been expected to overcome the problem of power shortages, which can theoretically use hydrogen from seawater as fuel.
