‘Artificial sun’ sets the new world record of 48-second-long operation at 100 million degrees

Posted 02 Apr 2024

2 min read

Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) fusion reactor reached temperatures seven times that of the Sun's core in latest advancement for nuclear fusion.
KSTAR also maintained high confinement mode (H-mode) for over 100 seconds
- H-mode is a stable plasma state.
- Plasma is hot, charged gas made of positive ions and free-moving electrons with unique properties distinct from solids, liquids, or gases.

About Tokamak
- Scientists generally use donut-shaped reactor called tokamak where hydrogen variants are heated to extraordinarily high temperatures to create a plasma.
- This is called artificial Sun because it replicates reaction of nuclear fusion taking place in Sun.
- Nuclear fusion is process by which two light atomic nuclei combine to form single heavier nuclei while releasing massive amounts of energy.

Significance of Nuclear Fusion
- Abundant energy: Releases nearly four million times more energy than burning of coal, oil, or gas.
- Limited risk of proliferation: No enriched materials used that could be exploited to make nuclear weapons.
- No risk of meltdown: Fusion reactors are considered to be inherently safe.
- Fuel is inexpensive and abundant in nature.

Development of materials that can withstand fusion conditions for decades.
Physics of Plasma is not well understood by researchers.
Maintaining extremely high temperature of around 50-million-degree celsius.

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