Dawan NewsThe big scientific device refers to the major national scientific and technological infrastructure, which is the "important weapon of the country" to achieve many major scientific and technological breakthroughs and build a scientific and technological power. As a comprehensive national science center, Hefei has become the city with the largest concentration of large scientific devices in the field of nuclear fusion in the world. On the afternoon of December 6, Dawan News reporters walked into the project site of "The Heavy Weapon of the Country" and visited the large scientific device "Craft" under construction. It is understood that by the end of 2025, the comprehensive research facility for key systems of fusion reactor host (CRAFT) will be fully completed, providing important support for the development of clean, safe and efficient fusion energy in China.
The main project of the "fusion reactor" has been completed by 65%.
Walking into the Hefei Future Science City located in Sanshigang Township, Luyang District, white buildings full of science and technology come into view. This is the park where the national "13th Five-Year Plan" major scientific and technological infrastructure - fusion reactor host key system comprehensive research facility is located.
The core component of craft resembles a giant "orange petal".
The scientific name of "Kwafu" is the Integrated Research Facility for Key Systems of the Fusion Reactor Host ("CRAFT"). In the No. 11 scientific research plant of the fusion reactor park, the prototype of some parts of CRAFT can already be seen. "It is nearly 20 meters high, weighs 295 tons, and looks like a giant 'orange petal', but in fact it is the core component of 'Kuafu'1 8 vacuum chamber and the overall installation experimental platform. Ye Hualong, secretary of the Youth League Committee of the Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters that eight "orange petals" will form a "big orange" and become an important part of the future "artificial sun", which is equivalent to a boiler that can provide a high-quality vacuum environment for the operation of hundreds of millions of degrees of plasma.
Inside the research plant, staff are working.
Ye Hualong introduced that there are 14 single buildings (scientific research plants) in the "Kuafu" facility park, which are all subsystems of the key systems of the fusion reactor host, and there are multiple systems under construction and operation in each scientific research plant, some of which have been preliminarily completed and are undergoing overall joint debugging and testing, and some are still in the process of stepping up research and development. On these devices, a series of key technology pre-research will be carried out to provide a core technical foundation and research platform for China to build a "fusion reactor" that can truly realize nuclear fusion power generation in the future.
The main project of Kuafu was officially started in September 2019, and 65% of it has been completed, and it is expected to be fully completed by the end of 2025. Ye Hualong said that the construction of fusion Hefei is currently being accelerated, and the facility will be the most comprehensive research platform with the highest parameters and the most complete functions in the field of international fusion after its full completion, escorting the research and development of core components of fusion engineering reactors and the construction of fusion engineering reactors.
Hefei's future science city is accelerating its rise
The reporter learned that the total planned area of the large scientific device concentration area of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center is about 22527 acres, is one of the important sections of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, is planned to be divided into three phases of construction: the first phase is a comprehensive research facility for the key system of the fusion reactor host, the second phase is the three-dimensional observation system of the atmospheric environment, and the third phase is a strong optical and magnetic integrated experimental device.
Among them, the CRAFT Park project covers an area of about 600 acres, with a construction period of 5 years and 8 months, which is mainly divided into the main project and the park project, mainly including 14 single buildings such as scientific research buildings, academic exchange centers, living facilities, international talent apartments, user facilities, scientist studios, and scientific research test plants, which have been completed and delivered on March 26, 2022.
Kuafu is the fifth major scientific device of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center after the four large scientific devices of synchrotron radiation, fully superconducting tokamak (East), east device auxiliary heating system and steady-state strong magnetic field, and it is also the first major national scientific and technological infrastructure project to be settled in Hefei since it was approved as a comprehensive national science center in January 2017. Ye Hualong introduced that the overall construction goal is to aim at the design and development of key systems of the fusion reactor host, build world-class open comprehensive testing and research facilities, ensure the safety, reliability and advancement of the host of China's fusion engineering experimental reactor, and lay a solid foundation for China's independent construction of fusion reactors.
Relying on the existing Hefei Science Island and fusion reactor host key system comprehensive research facilities, Hefei Future Science City plans to build six functional areas, including large scientific device area, science town, achievement transformation area, science service area, science island, reserved area + ecological land, in addition to the fusion reactor host key system comprehensive research facility project that has been completed and delivered, other projects such as compact fusion energy experimental device, atmospheric environment stereo observation system, strong optical and magnetic integrated experimental device and other projects are in the project approval stage and will be built one after another.
The Big Science Facility is the "core" of the City of Science and Technology. Hefei is planning to build a future science city, with 8 major scientific and technological infrastructures, and the concentration of devices is at the leading level in the country. Promote the construction of a laboratory system led by national laboratories and supported by national key laboratories. Hefei Future Science City is committed to the layout and construction of a number of major scientific and technological infrastructure, and is accelerating its rise.
Dawan News reporter Liu Yang photo report.
Edited by Zhang Dawei.