Throughout the 20 years of development, from the Hefei superring to the Oriental superring, the artificial sun is "far ahead" in China!
In the 90s of the last century, the first generation of intellectuals in China conducted a research trend on the future of energy, and they believed that the future energy mode will inevitably change from traditional coal and oil to new clean energy.
Therefore, as early as the 90s, we began to plan and develop new energy vehicle technology to achieve the transcendence of traditional gasoline and diesel engine technology.
The same is true in the field of nuclear energy, where we started research and development of fusion technology back in that period.
While actively promoting the development of ore energy, China still firmly chooses to conduct nuclear tests in order to achieve new sustainable energy sources, such as nuclear power generation, to replace traditional polluting energy sources.
Recently, with the news that the duration of China's "artificial sun" has exceeded 1,000 seconds, it seems that the era of "controlled nuclear fusion" is coming!
OneThe "Hefei Super Ring" was born
First of all, we need to understand that the technology employed in nuclear power plants is nuclear fission technology, which produces energy output by controlling the speed of neutron impacts.
However, it is well known that the energy produced by nuclear fission is only about 20% higher than that of ore energy.
In short, nuclear fission does not realize the full potential of nuclear energy. On the contrary, due to the impact of site construction, nuclear power plants often need to be built in areas close to the ocean, which is very inconvenient in site selection.
However, since 1994, based on the yearning for "controlled nuclear fusion", after years of covert research and development, the "Hefei Superring" project was born.
This fully autonomous and controllable circular-section superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device marks the birth of a new generation of nuclear fusion technology.
In 1998, the fully superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device was officially established and began to enter the experimental stage, which was later widely known as East.
In order to simulate the nuclear fusion process of the sun, it took three generations of hard research and development, from the initial limitation of parts to independent research and development, and in 2006, the first high-temperature plasma was successfully realized.
This marks the first time we have reached the mainstream level. In 2010, we broke the 10 million degrees Celsius mark, and two years later, we achieved 20 million degrees Celsius for 30 seconds of high-temperature plasma.
At the same time, the "leading position" that European and American countries are proud of is gradually being narrowed by our unremitting research and development. By 2017, we had broken the world record as the world's warmest and longest "artificial sun".
IIFission and fusion fusion power generation technology may become the direction of development
The "artificial sun" is not just an improvement in nuclear power plant technology, but a new technological breakthrough. In a high-temperature and high-pressure environment, the high temperature of fusion is achieved through the collision of particles, which is equivalent to creating a "sun" on the earth.
However, we need to make sure that the process is manageable, which makes the challenge even more daunting.
At the beginning of 2022, we have successfully achieved a high-parameter plasma operation of up to 1056 seconds and released temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees, which makes us a leader in this field.
However, despite this achievement, it will still take a long time to commercialize this technology. Construction of the experimental reactor is not expected to begin until 2025, and it is still being tested in an experimental environment, with a long way to go.
As mentioned in East's internal training materials, mature fusion technology is expected to enter the commercial phase around 2050. This is also the fastest R&D progress that can be achieved by the current mainstream magnetic confinement nuclear fusion technology.
Therefore, as it stands, nuclear fission and fusion fusion power generation technologies may be more in line with practical needs. Only through these technologies will we be able to accelerate the controlled development of fusion technology and keep existing technologies constantly improving.
This day seems to be no longer far away, and nuclear test academician Peng Xianjue has revealed in public that it may only take 10 years or even less for nuclear fusion to be commercialized!
However, the core problem of nuclear fusion is that it needs to be achieved in a high-temperature and high-pressure environment, which is a huge challenge for ignition devices.
The issues of materials and utilization are unprecedented challenges, and like the spark plugs of a car engine, the ignition needs to be extremely reliable.
Therefore, we are currently working on the development of high-strength capacitors. Once a breakthrough in this technology is achieved, it is expected that both laser ignition and magnetic confinement plasma nuclear fusion will be extremely efficient.
In the future, the development of the "artificial sun" field will continue to progress with the development of energy. This is a global problem, and whoever can take the lead in solving this problem will have the absolute right to speak.
Therefore, we need to give China a little time. Although we have broken world records, we still need to improve our R&D capabilities in the face of material and technology blockades.
This is particularly important when it comes to the autonomy and control of raw materials. It is only through the continuous improvement of our own research and development capabilities, especially in the field of materials, that we can gradually stand at the pinnacle of science and technology and ensure our leading position in the field of "artificial sun". Hotspot Engine Program