China announced the success of maintaining Tokamak EAST operation for 1066 seconds (17.7 minutes) making it the longest sustained "man-made sun" period. It surpassed the record of 1056 seconds set by Tokamak EAST in 2022. So, what should you know about it?
For your information, a tokamak is a torus-shaped machine that uses magnetic force to maintain plasma at temperatures reaching 120 million °C. Temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun (15 million °C) are required to perform the nuclear fusion process. The isotopes of deuterium and tritium combined through nuclear fusion will only produce helium and neutrons. No radioactive waste will be produced as in the nuclear fission process in current nuclear reactors.
In addition, one gram of deuterium and tritium fuel can release the same power as burning 11 tons of coal. The world's nuclear power is humanity's hope for a safer, non-polluting and virtually limitless source of energy. Information from Tokamak EAST will be used to support the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, which will be the world's largest tokamak.
Moreover, it is expected to be completed by 2035 in France. The ITER project is an international effort involving the European Union, the UK, Switzerland, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.
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