China’s EAST Reactor

Recently, Chinese scientists reported that they were able to maintain a plasma at a temperature of 100 million degrees C for about 1,066 seconds in a nuclear fusion reactor called the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).

About Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST)

• China’s EAST, also known as the “artificial sun,” is a nuclear fusion research facility in Hefei, aiming to replicate solar fusion reactions for clean energy.
• EAST is a nuclear fusion research reactor, a type of tokamak, designed to study and improve magnetic confinement for controlled fusion reactions. 
• Significance:
  • It’s a crucial step towards developing a clean, sustainable, and virtually limitless energy source through nuclear fusion. 
  • The recent record-breaking sustained plasma operation is a major milestone in fusion research. 
  • EAST serves as a testbed for technologies used in the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project, a global effort to achieve controlled fusion.
• Key achievements:
  • 2016: First tokamak to sustain plasma in high-confinement mode at about 50 million degrees C for over 60 seconds.
  • 2017: Extended the high-confinement mode to over 100 seconds.
  • 2023: Achieved the world’s first steady-state high-confinement plasma for 403 seconds.

Tokamak

• A Tokamak is a type of nuclear fusion reactor design that uses powerful magnetic fields to contain and heat plasma in order to achieve nuclear fusion. 
  • The word “Tokamak” comes from a Russian acronym that roughly translates to “toroidal chamber with magnetic coils”.
• Shape: It’s built in a donut-like shape (torus) where plasma circulates in a continuous loop. This design helps maintain stable plasma confinement.
• • The Tokamak design is currently the most promising approach to achieving controlled nuclear fusion for energy production. 
• The largest Tokamak project under construction is ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France, which is a collaborative effort between multiple nations.
• Goal: The main goal of Tokamak research is to achieve “net energy gain” – producing more energy from fusion reactions than is required to heat and contain the plasma.
• India’s Tokamak: India has its own tokamak, ADITYA, which was commissioned in 1989 and has contributed to India’s expertise in fusion physics and engineering.
  • Located at the Institute for Plasma Research in Gujarat.

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)

• ITER is the world’s largest nuclear fusion research project, aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of fusion as a clean and sustainable energy source. 
• It is an international collaboration involving over 30 countries, including India. 
• Objective: The primary objective of ITER is the investigation and demonstration of burning plasmas—plasmas in which the energy of the helium nuclei produced by the fusion reactions is enough to maintain the temperature of the plasma, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for external heating.
• Principle: ITER works on the “Tokamak” concept where the reaction of hydrogen isotopes Deuterium and Tritium produces energy by the mass-energy conversion principle, thereby proving to be a source of unlimited energy.
• The project is being constructed in Cadarache, France, and is expected to be a key milestone in developing commercial nuclear fusion reactors.