Last month, a nuclear fusion reactor known as the “artificial sun”, the Kokma Superconducting Tokmak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device, set a world record by retaining plasma for an incredible 20 seconds at an ion temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius. 180 million degrees Fahrenheit), which is one of the main conditions for nuclear fusion from such a device.
KSTAR’s progress is astonishing. It first reached 100 million degrees Celsius in 2018 but only for 1.5 seconds. In 2019, this was increased to 8 seconds. This has now more than doubled. No other device capable of making this hot (or hot) plasma is able to hold it for more than 10 seconds.
Record-breaking achievement was possible due to the newly developed internal transport barrier mode. Researchers believe they will be able to achieve 300 seconds with the ion temperature they achieve here in the next five years. A crucial goal in the future development of commercial nuclear fusion reactors.
“The technologies required for the long-term operation of 100 million-degree plasmas are the key to realizing fusion energy,” Si-Wu Yoon, director of the KSTAR research center at the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy, said in a statement. “[T]KSTAR’s success in maintaining high-temperature plasma for 20 seconds will be a turning point in the race to secure technologies for long-term performance plasma operation, an important component of a future commercial nuclear fusion reactor. “
The KSTAR run started in August Gust and continued till December 10. The team conducted a total of 110 plasma experiments to test the device’s capabilities as well as methods and techniques for injecting and stabilizing plasma. These experiments were conducted in collaboration with local and international partners.
South Korea is one of the members of the ITER (Original International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), an engineering megaproject that will be the largest nuclear fusion reactor ever built. Its goal is to demonstrate that it is possible to create a device that can release more free radicals through atomic fusion (in a controlled manner) than it takes to create a condition for fusing light atoms in the first place.
The experiments conducted by KSTAR to inform the development of ITER are crucial, the work of which should start in 2025. The results of the 2020 KSTAR are expected to be presented at the IAEA Fusion Energy Reza Conference in May 2021.
While the joke is that nuclear fusion is always 20 years away, developments like this over the last decade really show how far the field has come.
